•The PS further stated that there is a board that is going to be superintending over these funds which has various stakeholders.
•President William Ruto on Tuesday signed into law the Affordable Housing Bill, 2023, paving the way for the reinstatement of housing levy deductions from this month.
Image: PCS
The government has introduced strict penalties for government officials caught mismanaging public funds allocated for the Housing Affordable project.
Housing Principal Secretary (PS) Charles Hinga on Wednesday said that the Affordable Housing Act states that government officials will be fined Sh20 million for mismanagement of housing levy funds.
"The Act imposes serious penalties on anyone who is going to misappropriate the money, it is 20 million fine or 10 years in jail or both," he said at Citizen TV.
Hinga added that there was a need for clear laws to discourage the misuse of government money as corrupt officials reportedly get away without punishment something which needs to change.
The PS further stated that there is a board that is going to be superintending over these funds which has various stakeholders.
“The board has very wide representations and then we have three independent directors and a chairperson who is also independent," he said.
Some of the stakeholders on the board include the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU), the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), and the Council of Governors (CoG) among others.
President William Ruto on Tuesday signed into law the Affordable Housing Bill, 2023, paving the way for the reinstatement of housing levy deductions from this month.
Employees will now be deducted 1.5 per cent of their gross monthly pay, the amount that will be matched by their employer.
Under the new law, Kenyans in the informal sector and others not salaried will pay 1.5 per cent of their monthly gross earnings to fund the Kenya Kwanza government’s pet housing project.
The new legislation brings in workers in the informal sector for the regulations to be in agreement with the High Court ruling that rendered it unconstitutional last year.
Ruto said that the affordable housing project will not only provide employment opportunities for young people in the country but also ensure there is sufficient land available for agriculture and food production.
"Housing is going to give jobs for our young people, give us decent living conditions for our people, it is going to assist us in making sure that we have land for food production and is also going to make sure that we grow our manufacturing sector," he said.
The government has so far collected Sh32 billion from the Affordable Housing Programme.
PS Hinga revealed that the funds have been collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority.
"Since the affordable housing programme started with the Kenya Kwanza regime, we have collected Sh32 billion. The money is being collected by KRA," he said.
Explaining how the collection is done, PS Hinga revealed that the money once collected doesn't go to the main account but to a Central Bank of Kenya account for Housing.
"The way Parliament appropriated the money is what we call appropriation in aid. The money doesn't go to the consolidated fund but to our CBK account for the State Department for Housing," he added.
Reading the balance in the account, the PS revealed that as of March 19, 2024, the account had Sh29, 473,380, 645.40 billion.
When asked where the Sh2 billion went, Hinga stated that the funds had gone towards some of the 29 ongoing projects.
He explained that the funds were allocated to the 29 ongoing projects.
"That is why we are building schools and hospitals within these houses. We want to make sure that schools are closely available," he said.