Win for Ruto as Senate passes Affordable Housing Bill

President William Ruto on Tuesday won big in his push to bring back the housing levy after Kenya Kwanza senators defeated radical amendments proposed by Azimio lawmakers.

In a heated five-hour session punctuated by shouting matches, that ended minutes before 7 pm, the government-leaning senators capitalized on their numbers to shut down the opposition-sponsored amendments.

The amendments, the opposition argued, sought to give Kenyans relief.

Deputy Speaker Kathuri Murungi, who presided over the session, announced that 27 senators voted to support the Affordable Housing Bill, of 2023.

The Senators approved the Bill with amendments proposed by the government wing through the Senate’s Housing Committee chairman Karungo Thang’wa.

Some 10 Azimio senators voted against the Bill. At least 10 other senators who were eligible to vote were absent from the House.

“The results for the division are as follows; abstentions zero, ayes 27 and nays 10,” Murungi said.

Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni, who sponsored the opposition’s amendments, wanted the deductions towards the housing levy capped at Sh2,500.

He also wanted the affordable housing levy to be paid at 1.5 percent of the net salary of an employer or employee.

The controversial proposed law states that the affordable housing levy be pegged on the employee's gross salary or any gross income received or accrued that is not a salary.

The senator also wanted the Treasury CS to exempt from payment of the levy any person who enters into a subsisting mortgage that is not contemplated under the Act.

Omogeni also sought exceptions for any person residing in a rural area and has a certificate of title registered in their name and any person engaged in agricultural farming or business activities whose annual turnover is less than Sh288,000 per year.

Other exemptions were to touch on individuals aged 50 years and above, who are engaged in informal business activities as well as any person with less than five years remaining to statutory retirement at the time of the enactment of the Act.

Senator Omogeni also sought to have all monies collected through the levy to be allocated to county governments as a conditional grant.

Further, he wanted counties to be tasked with managing the fund and not the proposed Affordable Housing Fund Board.

“Development functions are a preserve of county governments and if boards were to undertake this function then it would be in conflict with provisions of the Constitution,” Omogeni said.

However, attempts by the minority side to push through the amendments were defeated during voting.

Subdued, the minority side protested against the deputy speaker with heated exchanges which at some point almost degenerated into physical confrontation as both sides surrounded the speaker’s area ahead of the final voting.

However, there is some relief in the government amendments pushed by Thang’wa.

The committee amended the Bill to have a person eligible for allocation of only a single housing unit provided they meet the prescribed criteria in the regulations.

“This amendment seeks to clarify that a person refers to a natural person and the said person may only access one unit. This will ensure that the objective of the Bill to ensure that Kenyans have access to affordable housing is achieved,” Thang’wa said.

The senator also said that should a person who has made a voluntary saving but has missed on the unit, then they may withdraw their savings by issuing a 90-day written notice to the agency for a refund with any accrued interest.

But again, the individual may apply to the Board for approval of issuance of an affordable mortgage to develop a rural affordable housing unit.

He explained that the application will be accompanied by an agreement that the applicant agrees to have their saved deposits and the land upon which the unit is to be built to be used as collateral.

“Upon approval by the Board, the applicant shall cause a charge on the title to be executed in favour of the Board,” he said.