The High Court temporarily stopped the arrest, charging and prosecution of three individuals over the collapse of Manzil Towers C in South C, Nairobi, pending the hearing of their judicial review application.
In orders issued by Justice Dr. Nabil Mokaya Orina, the court granted Patrick Analo Akivaga, David Kibui Kigathi and another applicant leave to challenge the decision by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to institute criminal charges against them.
The applicants are seeking to quash the DCI’s decision to charge them with abuse of office contrary to Sections 101(1) and 102A of the Penal Code in connection with the collapse of Manzil Towers C.
The court also granted leave to the third applicant to challenge the decision to charge him with neglect of official duty contrary to Section 128 as read with Section 36 of the Penal Code, arising from the same incident.
Justice Orina further granted leave for the applicants to seek an order prohibiting the DCI, its officers or any other persons acting under its authority from arresting, charging, prosecuting or continuing with any criminal proceedings against them relating to the building collapse.
The judge directed the applicants to file their substantive judicial review application within seven days and serve it upon the respondents. The respondents will then have 21 days to file their responses, after which the applicants may file further affidavits within seven days if necessary.
The matter will be mentioned on September 16, 2026, for compliance and further directions on the hearing of the case.
“Pending the determination of the substantive judicial review application, leave granted shall operate as a stay of the charge sheet dated July 14, 2026, effectively suspending any arrest, arraignment, charging, prosecution or further criminal proceedings against the three applicants,” reads the order.
The accused are facing charges arising from the collapse of the Mamzil Towers building in South C, with prosecutors alleging negligence and failure by public officials to enforce building regulations despite known violations.
Four people had initially been charged over the case.
They were charged with two counts of manslaughter following the deaths of two people in the January 2, 2026 incident.
The accused — Abdishakur Muse Mohammed, Yussuf Mohammed Yussuf, Daniel Alphonse Odhiambo and Gideon Chege Gakundi alias Gideon Chege Mwangi — appeared before Mugo, where they denied the charges.
According to the prosecution, the four unlawfully caused the deaths of Ali Adan Galgalo Abdi and Hassan Huka on January 2, 2026, at South C in Lang’ata Sub-County. They face two counts of manslaughter contrary to Section 202 as read with Section 205 of the Penal Code.
In addition to the manslaughter charges, Abdishakur Muse Mohammed and Yussuf Mohammed Yussuf face several forgery-related charges.
The prosecution alleges that in March 2023, the two forged a Notification of Approval for an application seeking permission to change the land use for the property where the development was undertaken.
They are further accused of knowingly uploading the allegedly forged approval document to the National Construction Authority’s Online Projects Registration System on November 4, 2023, falsely presenting it as a genuine document issued by Nairobi City County.
The pair also face charges of forging an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) licence in March 2023 before allegedly uploading the purported licence to the National Construction Authority portal while presenting it as a genuine document issued by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
All four accused were additionally charged with commencing the Mamliz Towers construction project without a valid Environmental Impact Assessment licence, contrary to the Environmental Management and Coordination Act.
Prosecutors told the court that construction on the South C property began in February 2024 without the mandatory environmental approval.
Mugo granted each of the four accused a cash bail of Sh2 million pending the hearing and determination of the case.
The prosecution said more suspects are expected to take plea in the case.
Others had obtained court orders stopping their prosecution.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mulele Ingonga had approved the prosecution of several individuals following the collapse of the building.
The collapse killed two people.
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