A family whose kin died after a house that was under construction in Karen, Nairobi County now says they have been abandoned by the government.
The deceased Raphael Mwandikwa aged 40 was among two people who died in the January 10, 2026 incident after a residential house they were constructing collapsed.
On the fateful day Mwandikwa, a carpenter by profession was supposed to return home around 2pm as he had promised his wife; but this was never to be.
“No one has reached to us including the owner of the house, contractor and even foreman, we have been left alone as if nothing happened,” the deceased wife Lydia said
Adding that, “that day he was supposed to return home at 2pm as usual, he called me around mid-morning during their tea break but around 2:50pm I got anxious and wanted to find out why he had not returned as usual. When I called him but he was not picking, I started feeling unease,”
The wife says it was until 4pm when someone picked Mwandikwa’s call and informed her that her husband had been involved in an accident at the construction site where he had been working since October 2025.
“I have been left as a widow, to take care of three children who are still young that is why we are fighting for justice; not even the county has reached to tell us to tell us the way forward or who will foot the burial bills,” she added
According to witnesses, the residential building which had been constructed up to the first floor caved in while some workers were mixing concrete underneath.
Unfortunately, Mwandikwa and another colleague were buried by the debris consisting of concrete and metallic materials and it took more than three hours before their bodies were retrieved.
An autopsy conducted on Mwandikwa’s body at the City Mortuary at Nairobi Funeral Home on January 13, 2026 established that he died due to multiple injuries on the head, limbs, and abdomen due to blunt force trauma.
It was discovered that several of his ribs were broken after a heavy pillar that was supporting the house fell on him.
The tragedy comes barely a fortnight after a similar incident occurred in South C, claiming the lives of two security guards manning the building under construction.
Authorities have largely been blamed for the incidents, bringing the construction authorising agencies into sharp scrutiny.
