A multi-agency rescue team has recovered the body of one man from the rubble of a 14-storey building that collapsed in South C, Nairobi, on Friday morning, January 2, 2026. 

The confirmation came on Sunday, January 4, from Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku, who briefed the media at the site as search efforts entered their third day.

According to the CS, the recovered body belongs to an unidentified male adult. He explained that specialists from relevant government agencies are now conducting formal identification and handling necessary procedures before notifying the victim’s family.

Rescue workers believe that at least one more person may still be trapped under the debris. Teams from the National Disaster Management Unit (NDMU), the Kenya Red Cross, and other agencies have been working around the clock, using heavy machinery and scent-tracking dogs to locate the missing individual.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja visited the site on Sunday after facing public criticism and pressure from several leaders who accused his administration of lax enforcement of construction standards. 

Sakaja defended himself, saying he had been out of town and stopped at the disaster site immediately after returning.

“This is the first place I came to so that I could see how our disaster response teams are operating,” he said.

The governor also acknowledged persistent enforcement challenges within the county. He noted that even when counties flag violations by developers, penalties imposed by courts are often too lenient to deter repeat offenders.

“Once a developer gets the statutory approvals, sometimes infractions are reported and charges filed, but they end up getting dropped or attracting only a Ksh20,000 fine,” he said.

The collapse has drawn anger from political leaders and residents, many of whom say that county officials should have stopped construction long before the building gave way. 

The structure had approvals for 12 floors but was reportedly extended to 14, triggering what experts describe as a classic “pancake collapse.”

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino was among the first to speak out. In a statement on X posted shortly after the collapse, he described the accident as a preventable tragedy caused by “unauthorised construction and weak enforcement of safety standards.”

He added that families were now suffering “due to failures that should never happen in a modern city.”

Sakaja’s comments calling for counties to be granted prosecutorial powers sparked fresh controversy. The governor argued that counties should be able to enforce building standards more decisively without relying entirely on national agencies.

However, Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) Nairobi Patron Irungu Nyakera dismissed the governor’s proposal as an attempt to shift blame.

“Governor Sakaja showed up two days after the collapse and is now asking for constitutional amendments so he can ‘do his job.’ That is simply deflection,” Nyakera wrote on X.

Nyakera insisted that Nairobi County already has sufficient authority to prevent such disasters. He said the county has the power to approve buildings, supervise construction, and ensure projects follow the approved architectural plans.

According to him, the South C tragedy was the result of a failure to act on visible warnings rather than a lack of legal powers.

“If those powers were used effectively, people would not be digging bodies out of rubble,” he said.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has already ordered a fast-tracked investigation into the collapse. The probe will examine potential negligence, identify officials who may have ignored warnings, and determine whether the developers violated building regulations.

Meanwhile, rescue teams remain on the ground, hoping to find the second missing person as families and residents wait for closure.