Precious Talent School Tragedy: Chicken Mesh was Allegedly Used to Reinforce Slab Floor

The proprietor of Nairobi’s Precious Talent School whose classroom structure collapsed on Monday killing eight pupils failed to follow construction regulations while putting up the building.

This was revealed by the Secretary, National Building Inspectorate Moses Nyakiaongora who toured the site on Monday.

Nyakiaongora pointed out that chicken wire was used to reinforce the slab floor that caved in, falling on learners that were in the classrooms located on the ground floor.  64 pupils sustained injuries in the tragedy.

"The structure looked like a temporary makeshift and it didn't follow any building regulations. Chicken wire was used to reinforce the suspended floor that collapsed," Nyakiaongora said.

He also explained that the double-storey building could not hold a lot of weight since its walls were made of iron sheets.

"The makeshift structure started as a single blocked and it looked like the owner converted one block of classrooms into a double-storey building. The person who did this is a criminal. It is a criminal offense," he stated.

On Monday, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said preliminary investigations indicated that there was malpractice in the construction of the ill-fated building.

Magoha noted that the school’s owners built an additional floor to the building without seeking approval, exposing children to danger.  
 
“I have been to all the other classrooms and in my most humble opinion, they are stable. So if a spade must be called a spade ahead of the investigations, you notice that somebody went and build another storey on top of the temporary structure.”

“If you go ahead and do so without anybody’s approval I think we should be fair to each other including being fair to the government,” said Magoha.

“If the owners of this school had remained with a single-storey building this accident should not have occurred.”

The government has since ordered an audit of infrastructure in all institutes countrywide following the incident.