Tale of students killed in ill-fated Murang’a house

Emmanuel Asande was a Third Year civil engineering student at Murang’a University of Science and Technology when he died at a construction site in the town.

He had only been at the site for two weeks as an industrial attaché at the ill-fated four-storey building when tragedy struck on Monday.

His college mate, Daniel Nkulet, also a Third Year procurement student perished in the tragedy.
Nkulet had been doing casual jobs to raise fees. He had deferred his studies for one semester owing to a lack of funds.

Another student identified as Geoffrey Wachira was, on the other hand, pursuing Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at Moi University. His father Lawrence King’ori said the deceased was on a long holiday break and was to resume his studies later in September.

He had allowed his son to work at the site in order to earn some money for his upkeep after he completed his internship at Murang’a District Hospital.

Wachira had only worked at the site for two weeks.“It is such a blow to us as a family to lose a young man who had a promising future ahead of him,” King’ori said.

Murang’a University Vice-Chancellor Dickson Nyariki said the death of Asande and Nkulet was a blow to the institution.

He said the two were hard-working and had an entire future ahead of them only for their lives to be cut short by the tragedy. “It is a huge loss to us as an institution to lose such promising students in such a tragic manner,” said Nyariki.

“We send our heartfelt condolences to the two families and promise to support them in the burial preparations for their loved ones” he added.

Davis Kemboi, the president of Murang’a University Students Association said it was sad that the two died while trying to pursue their dreams. “They were out there trying to make ends meet and accomplish their academic goals but their lives were tragically cut short,” he stated.

The four-storey building collapsed on Monday evening and claimed five lives. Four people were rescued and are receiving treatment at various hospitals.

Various Government agencies have launched investigations into the incident, promising to act against the owners of the building.
National Construction Authority (NCA) chief executive Maurice Aketch revealed that relevant authorities had commenced investigations into the cause of the tragedy.
“We are very keen as NCA to ensure all constructions in the country comply with all the regulatory requirements and especially standards to maintain quality, safety and the wellbeing of Kenyans and the environment,” he said.
The National Building Inspectorate secretary Samuel Charagu, said their work is to inspect all buildings in the country, especially those that are occupied to check for safety.
“We have been going around the country and have covered 26 counties checking the status of buildings,” Charagu said.
“We have this far inspected 19,605 buildings across the country of which 919 that account for five 5 per cent have been found to be dangerous,” he added. He further noted that NBI came in to inspect buildings after they have been occupied. “We work as a multi-sectoral team with the county governments and disaster management unit as well as the police,” he stated, adding that they liaise with the police to evacuate occupants if a building is considered unsafe.
Also, at the scene, County Police Commander David Mathiu said necessary legal action will be taken against anyone found to have broken the law and endangered the lives of Kenyans.
Murang’a Governor Dr Irungu Kang’ata also assured residents that the county government would take necessary action on all people found to have played a part in compromising standards of the collapsed building.