Examining the Role of National Construction Authority in Enhancing Structural Integrity in Kenya: Towards a More Efficacious Regulatory Regime

Abstract

Kenya has a seemingly robust legal and institutional framework for the construction industry chiefly administered by the National Construction Authority (NCA) which was established in 2011. The state agency was expected to streamline the industry, restore sanity in the sector, and safeguard structural integrity. In the last decade, however, the industry experienced rampant collapse of close to one hundred buildings in which hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured. The study sought to investigate the efficacy of NCA in safeguarding structural integrity in Kenya, as well as identify lessons and best practices that Kenya can learn from the UK and Canada. It utilized doctrinal and comparative research methodologies. The study revealed that NCA has been inefficacious in achieving structural integrity because the Kenyan regime for the building sector is not harmonized but it is rather fragmented across several statutes. In addition, the current building regulations are obsolete and fail to appreciate the tremendous technological advancements in the construction sector. There is also no clear demarcation of roles between county governments and national regulatory agencies, thus, occasioning instances of shared mandates and institutional overlaps. The UK and the Canadian regimes are better than the Kenyan regime in that they are regulated by single unified statutes, which harmonize the regulatory frameworks. Besides, the UK has a specialized regime for the registration of high-risk buildings supported by a digital audit trail to ease their governance and early identification of risks. Lastly, the UK imposes strict liability on manufacturers of defective construction products, suppliers, and professional consultants like marketers. Kenyan parliament should enact a single unified statute for the building sector, introduce a regime for high-risk buildings, and impose strict liability on manufacturers of defective construction products.