Multichoice Set To Demolish Sh900M Office Building Over Safety Concerns

MultiChoice Kenya is forging ahead with plans to bring down a building that would have hosted its Kenyan offices but was condemned by the Nairobi County Government due to safety concerns. The company dismissed a notice by the building’s contractor, Cementers Limited, which is pushing to have the building preserved as evidence in a case it has filed at the magistrate’s court in Nairobi.

“The proposed MultiChoice Kenya Offices of which Cementers Limited was the contractor are being demolished pursuant to Enforcement Notices issued by the County Government of Nairobi condemning the said building and requiring its immediate demolition due to safety concerns,” Multichoice said in a statement issued last evening.

MultiChoice, the leading Pay-TV service provider, it is merely complying with the notice, noting, however, that the demolition is being done with “utmost professionalism and care to the workers involved and the communities neighbouring the site.”

MultiChoice, seeking to hire a Project Manager to oversee and manage its upcoming project of demolishing the building situated along Oloitoktok Road at Kileleshwa in Nairobi, has already sent out a Request for Quotations (RFQ). Submission deadline for quotes was 18^th February 2022.

The company says the building, valued at nearly Ksh1 billion, is not an exhibit in any of the ongoing civil, arbitral and criminál cases between the parties.

Cementers had claimed in a public notice that the building is the subject of criminàl proceedings in which two structural engineers Eng. Kariuki Muchemi (Interconsult Engineers Ltd) and Eng. Wilson Munyu Karaba (Conapex Consulting Engineers Ltd), the Project Architect, Architect Stanley Kebathi (SK Archplans), and Ms Lavender Lucky Waindi, Advocate (Head of Legal Compliance at MIH East Africa Limited) have been jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud the contractor of Ksh895 million by “intentionally altering a Structural Integrity Investigation Report” relating to the construction of the building.

Yesterday, MultiChoice Kenya said the demolition has nothing to do with the ongoing legal matter between itself and Cementers Ltd.

“The demolition of the building is not subject to those proceedings and any false accusations made against MultiChoice Kenya are libellous and will be addressed through legal recourse,” it says.

“We note the use of deliberately misleading media statements to misrepresent our lawful compliance with this demolition order to cast aspersions on MultiChoice Kenya, these claims are strongly denied and have no basis in fact.”

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