William Ruto has invested at least 46 billion shillings collected from Kenyans as Housing Levy into Treasury Bills (T-Bills). The 46 billion is about 51 percent of the total amount deducted from Kenyans forcefully to “construct affordable houses” that they will never own.
Bragging about it, Silvia Waweru, the Acting CEO of the Affordable Housing Board, said it was unwise for the government to have “billions of shillings sitting idle instead of investing.” The sentiments makes one wonder whether the government is serious about constructing houses.
“We cannot have money sitting idle in bank accounts. We have invested in T-Bills, where they make more money. The 46 billion can bring in even two more billion shillings. The money is safe, and it is under the protection of the Central Bank of Kenya,” she said.
The scary sentiments come at a time when the government of President William Ruto has failed to keep its promise of constructing at least 200,000 houses annually to just 900 houses. Announced by Alice Wahome, the government barely managed 1,000 houses last year.
At the same time, the State Department for Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development has admitted that the government may not achieve its target of building one million affordable housing units by 2027, having only begun works on 140,000 units.
In a press briefing by Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome, the department cited a variety of factors including court cases and a lack of streamlined processes as the reasons for the delay.
She, however, expressed optimism that the state was doing its best to get back on track, promising to hand over 4,800 units before the end of next month.
Her remarks come barely a fortnight after the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) released the findings of the 2024/25 housing survey which was commissioned at the beginning of 2024 following the infamous introduction of the housing levy.
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