Listed contractor says he let his unregistered brother use the firm’s name before the Nairobi tower collapsed

In his police statement, the director said his brother asked for the company’s details so he could get the project cleared by the National Construction Authority, whose records name Stromax as the contractor, according to Citizen Digital. The director says he agreed and even replied to the regulator’s emails confirming that his firm was building the tower, although he says he took no part in the work. People close to the investigation told Citizen TV the project may have been run by someone without a contractor’s registration.

The brother points back at the company. He says Stromax hired him as a labour contractor for the structural work, including masonry and steel fixing, and that he only supplied skilled and semi-skilled workers who followed the firm’s instructions. He also says an engineer supervised the job and approved the work. Both versions are claims made to police and have not been tested in court.

More than 20 people, the two men included, have now given police statements. So has one of the project’s three developers, and the landowners are due at the police station within days. Citizen reported that the landowners filed two development applications and paid Ksh 1.1 million to Nairobi County, but approval stalled because the project manager never resolved four issues the county raised. Rescuers recovered a woman’s remains from the basement on October 30. Sixteen people are still reported missing.