Planning Committee Members Chaired by Baba Dogo MCA Geoffrey Majiwa
A Nairobi County officer helped connect the developer of a collapsed Eastleigh building with a private physical planner hired to prepare a change-of-use plan, a county committee has heard.
The building collapse killed more than 11 people. The Lands, Housing and Planning Committee was told on Tuesday that Joseph Mutua Nzei, an officer responsible for the county’s change-of-use portal, acted on the developer’s behalf in engaging a planner.
Physical planner Nathan Mutunga Kilii told the committee he was contacted through a broker identified as Japheth Malusi, whom he knew through Mutua. Kilii said he was hired to prepare a complete change-of-use design.
The account prompted questions from committee members about how a county officer came to be involved in arranging the work.
Committee chair Geoffrey Majiwa said the inquiry had also faced difficulties obtaining documents and testimony from county officials. He said the county executive’s planning department had agreed to provide records, but officials later sent letters saying they could not attend.
One chief officer briefly appeared at the meeting and then left, Majiwa said. The committee plans to issue fresh invitations and may summons officials who fail to appear.
Majiwa said the planner who testified had been paid for the work but did not know the developer who commissioned it. Instead, he described being approached through several intermediaries, including Mutua.
The committee is also seeking testimony from county officials David Njoroge and Osman, whom Majiwa said had not attended. He said the inquiry would continue as members try to establish who commissioned the work and who was responsible for the building’s planning approvals.
