“I Will See You in Court”: Babu Owino Responds to Sakaja’s Demand Letter

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino says he will not apologize to Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja for his remarks about the building that collapsed in Eastleigh.

Speaking during a KCSE revision class on Monday, October 26, Bbau Owino said Sakaja had sent him a demand letter through his lawyers, asking him to retract claims that the county had irregularly approved the condemned building. The outspoken MP challenged the governor to take the matter to court, saying he would represent himself.

“I have seen you have written a demand letter; I will see you in court to cross-examine you. There is no response I will make, but I will cross-examine you based on that letter,” the MP stated.

Owino accused Sakaja of misleading Nairobi residents about whether the county had approved the building. He cited letters that he said came from the National Construction Authority (NCA) and the county government.

“The National Construction Authority has communicated vide a letter, informing the public that they made an approval for the building that collapsed in Eastleigh.

“We also have a letter from the county government showing that the approval was made in 2024. NCA cannot issue an approval unless the county government makes an approval, then forwards it to the Authority for registration,” Babu stated.

Sakaja earlier described the document as fake and maintained that the county had not approved the building’s construction. He said the developer applied in November 2024 to change the property’s use, making it residential and commercial, but did not receive development approval.

“The application for development as shown below was made in November of 2024; it could not have been approved in February of the same year. Also, there is a difference between a change of use approval and a development approval,” the governor wrote.

He said the developer built without the required approvals despite enforcement action and arrests by county officials.

“The developer went on to build with impunity and without building approvals despite enforcement action by the county and arrests,” he wrote.

Sakaja added that county officials arrested some developers and contractors, but authorities released them from Kamukunji Police Station on bail of Ksh50,000 each. He said he had raised concerns about the penalties in the Senate and would continue to call for a review.

“Fining a developer 50k for an illegal development with hundreds of millions without orders to stop and remove the offensive development is completely unreasonable. I raised this in the Senate a fortnight ago and we shall keep pushing for a review of this position,” he added.

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