President William Ruto will on Monday assent to the Affordable Housing Bill (National Assembly Bills No. 75 of 2023).
This is after Parliament on Thursday passed the legislation that will anchor the affordable housing programme.
Speaking in Bomet on Saturday, President Ruto said he will sign the bill on Monday to pave way for the deduction of the housing levy.
"On Monday I will sign the bill because we are in agreement with the court on issues on housing. We want to make sure that we do that which is going to change our country," President Ruto.
The President highlighted that the affordable housing project will not only provide employment opportunities for young people in the country but also ensure there is sufficient land available for agriculture and food production.
"Housing is going to give us jobs for our young people, give us decent living conditions for our people, is going to assist us in making sure that we have land for food production and is also going to make sure that we grow our manufacturing sector," the President said.
He added: "That is the work I will do on Monday because we are in agreement with the court to have a legislation that will anchor the affordable housing programme into law."
The development therefore means that the government will, as early as the end of March, start deducting the 1.5 per cent tax from both the employer and the employee.
The courts had last month abolished the levy but the Kenya Kwanza administration has moved to have it back through legislation.
An appellate court on January 26 rejected the government’s bid to continue collecting the levy under the tax law.
On Thursday, pro-government lawmakers railroaded the Bill despite protests from opposition MPs.
The Azimio lawmakers termed the legislation illegal and unconstitutional.
“We need to be careful that we don’t pass Bills that will end up in court,” Kathiani MP Robert Mbui warned.
Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo cautioned the house that the programme is exposed to legal hurdles for failing to address matters raised by the courts.
“The technical, legal and policy issues we raised on this affordable bill remain, one day if it is not the courts then Kenyans will vindicate us,” he said.
Under the approved legislation, Parliament regularised the 1.5 per cent contribution for workers. The same percentage will be matched by the employers.
