Uhuru seeks UN help to realise affordable housing agenda

President Uhuru Kenyatta is now seeking UN-Habitat’s support to realise his affordable housing agenda.

Uhuru on Monday said though tremendous strides have been made towards his Big Four Agenda, inadequate shelter and unsustainable human settlement remain a major challenge his administration is grappling with.

Uhuru was speaking at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre KICC during the UN-Habitat general assembly.

He said there is a great need for all the 36 member states under the UN-Habitat framework to exchange ideas and best practices that will deliver practical solutions for cities and human settlement.

“I urge all of our partners to formulate strategies that will revolutionise institutions for urban development. This will enhance our capacity to confront and deal with urban challenges," Uhuru said.

He said though his administration has laid out a robust plan to see the implementation of the  Big 4 agenda within the next five years under manufacturing, food security, universal health care and affordable housing units, progress has been slow due to financial constraints.

He said this can be attributed to a lack of effective implementation strategies on urban agenda.

According to the President, many societies are ill prepared to plan for rapid urbanisation.

He said it is unfortunate that proliferation and an increase in the informal settlement have increased environmental degradation across the country.

“We need to develop innovations that are key to solving cities and communities problems. We need to explore strategic ways of transforming our cities in a sustainable manner,” Uhuru added.

Uhuru said to allow the agency to deliver on its double mandate, all partners and member states must purpose to increase their budgetary allocation in the coming years.

“Kenya remains committed to supporting UN-Habitat. We shall continue to assist whenever in a position and as a country, we shall increase our budget allocation in the next financial year," he said.

“We shall also consider additional allocations to the agency in our pledging sessions.”

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