A section of slum dwellers within Nairobi County and Jua Kali contractors on Thursday held peaceful protests in support of the Kenya Kwanza Government's housing levy.
The tax was approved by Parliament as contained in the Finance Act 2023 with Kenyans on payslips parting with 1.5 per cent of their salary.
The High Court overturned the tax after Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah challenged the levy but the order was put on hold until January.
On Thursday, protesters led be the Jua Kali Contractors National Umbrella Body and people calling themselves slum dwellers said they support the levy because it is giving them a lifeline.
Chanting 'bado mapambano', the protesters said their future will be ruined if the housing levy is scrapped.
''Nyumba Bora Maisha Bora!,'' some of the placards carried by the protesters read.
Others broke into songs that urged Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua not to give up, asking him to soldier on.
''Gachagua usilalae! Bado Mapambano,'' they chanted as they snaked through Harambee Avenue and Parliament Road.
Police provided security as the protesters moved around several major streets in the CBD.
They said they would present a petition to Parliament in support of the levy which President William Ruto defended as the surest way to create employment.
The government is planning to use the fund to build at least a quarter of a million housing units annually across the country as one way of allowing Kenyans to own low-cost homes and also create jobs.
In its ruling, the High Court said the government had not provided a rational explanation for why it had imposed the housing levy only on workers with employment in the formal sector.
"The introduction of the housing levy... is discriminatory and irrational and arbitrary and is in violation... of the constitution," Judge David Majanja said.
The judges then approved the government lawyers' request for a 45-day stay of the order as they decide whether to appeal or make changes to the law to address the judges' concerns.
On Wednesday, Omtatah won big after the Court of Appeal certified as urgent his application to vacate stay orders against the Housing Levy.
In a letter seen by the Star and sent to Omtatah, Registrar of the Court of Appeal Moses Serem notified him of the certification, adding that the application would be heard by a three-judge bench.
"I have been directed to inform you that the application dated December 8, 2023, has been certified as urgent by the duty Judge.
I have been directed to inform you that this application will be heard by a three-Judge Bench constituted by the President of the Court of Appeal," the letter read in part.
In the application, Omtatah and three others have listed 51 respondents including the CS for Treasury, the Attorney General, the Senate and its speaker, the National Assembly and its speaker, and the CS for lands.
This month, President Ruto said he is going to implement the Housing levy no matter what it takes.
Ruto said he is certain and determined to make sure he goes ahead with the plan since implementation has been the main issue.
He further said that if certain countries were able to carry out and implement the plan then Kenya too could.
"I am telling you this time round I am implementing it and I am so determined because we must do it. Korea did it, Singapore, Malaysia and that is why they are ahead of us," he said during the Kenya Diaspora Investment Conference at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
President Ruto said the same project as in the Kenya Kwanza manifesto was part of Azimio la Umoja's manifesto.
"This beautiful project was in the manifesto of Kenya Kwanza. The same housing project, complete with percentages of the levy was also in the Azimio manifesto," he noted.
