Raila launches Sh3bn Kitui affordable housing project

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Monday that shelter is a fundamental right but has regrettably been ignored by successive post-independence governments.

“Shelter is a fundamental right just like the right to food, right to education, right to health but for a long time we have not addressed the issue,” Raila said.

He launched a Sh3 billion affordable housing project initiated by the Kitui county government at Manyenyoni in Kitui town.

He praised the colonial administration for building estates for l0w-income earners in Nairobi like Kaloleni, Shauri Moyo, Makongeni, Kariobangi and Ziwani just as it did in Kisumu and Mombasa.

He noted that when Africans took over leadership it did not appear to them that the rural-urban migration would be a permanent phenomenon but instead encouraged people to go back to their rural areas.

“People went to town and could not find shelter resulting in the emergence of slums. The proliferation of slums in our urban centres is a result of failure to provide proper and affordable housing in our towns,” said Raila who was hosted by Governor Charity Ngilu.

He pointed out that he supported President Uhuru Kenyatta's affordable housing plan in his Big Four agenda because rural-urban migration will continue as people move to seek opportunities available in urban areas.

“Therefore we must make affordable housing available and accessible to people coming to the towns. That is why this project is important and is going to change the image of Kitui. Ngilu has assured me that it is the beginning of things to come,” Raila said.

He praised the Musyi Development investor for teaming up with the county through a public-private partnership to invest such a huge chunk of money in the project.

“This is an eye-opener to the rest of the country. I would like to also congratulate Charity for making it possible for these people to invest here. We call it public-private partnership. The private sector had the money and the government provides an enabling environment for people to invest,” he said.

Ngilu said the projects will be done in two phases. The first phase called Chief Kivoi Heights will have about 14,000 units while the other phase to be known as Nzambani View will have 6,000 units.

The governor urged the investors to fast-track the project so that Kitui people can purchase them. She said already there were financiers who were ready to give loans to people willing to purchase the houses.

The managing director of Musyi Development Alex Kiemae said 2,000 housing units will be built and sold out to residents. The housing units would be sold at between Sh1.6 million and Sh3.6 million, according to the Kitui executive for Land and Infrastructure Jacob Kakundi.

The ceremony was attended by Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga, Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu, Kitui county commissioner John Odengo and the chairman of the Musyi Development Jude Anyiko.

Edited by Henry Makori