President William Ruto now says the court never declared the housing levy unconstitutional.
Ruto said the court only said that the levy should not be discriminatory saying the unconstitutional narrative was a creation of the media.
"Mahakama walisema hii ada ni sawa kama wakenya wote watalipa (the court said the levy is okay only if all Kenyans will pay) That's what they said, that it shouldn't be discriminatory," he said.
"The problem of unconstitutional was made by the media. If it was unconstitutional why did they say we continue collecting the taxes? Ruto posed.
The President was speaking on Sunday during a media roundtable at State House, Nairobi.
On November 28, 2023 a three-judge bench at the High Court quashed the Housing Levy proposed in the 2023 Finance Bill.
In their ruling delivered at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Justices David Majanja, Christine Meoli and Lawrence Mugambi said the collection of Housing Levy only from salaried employees is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
The judges said the government failed to provide an explanation for the imposition of the levy which must be supported with a rational explanation.
However, Kenyans will continue to pay the housing levy for the next month after the High Court suspended its earlier ruling that the law was unconstitutional until January to allow the government to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The court stayed its ruling until 10 January 2024 after the Kenya Revenue Authority, Attorney General and Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula asked the judges to grant them a stay of at least 45 days.\
However, earlier this week President Ruto said the affordable housing programme will be implemented despite the many voices that continue to criticize it.
Ruto said the time has come to liberate millions of Kenyans who live in slums without basic services that he describes as living in indignity.
