The Kenyan government has accused retired county staff of approving 18 illegal buildings.
If you look around Nairobi you’ll see some buildings that have been brought down for the purpose of road constructions. A lot of people have asked how those buildings were approved without the knowledge of the the Nairobi County.
According to Nairobi Metropolitan Services, at least 18 illegal buildings were approved and this was done by hackers who previously worked for the county. They managed to get into the County’s online development plan system and tampered with it.
Who could have done this?
Business Daily reported that the hackers were former City Hall staff who worked with outsiders to implement the illegal approvals.
The NMS Director-General Mohamed Badi said:
“The hacking is paving the way for illegal building approvals. 18 illegal approvals were done when the system was hacked into, forcing us to suspend it. The hackers are not strangers or outsiders. They are retired county staff who have access to the system.”
He also added that the deals have been falling in the wrong hands:
“It is clear they are now working with outsiders to do illegal approvals. It is however unfortunate that desperate city residents land in the hands of these conniving dealers and get illegal approvals”
So, what will they do about it?
From now on approval will be done by the Nairobi City County Urban Planning Technical Committee and issues related to the e-construction system to the experts who will look for a permanent solution to avoid any future problems. An investigation has been launched and arrests have also been made.