President William Ruto has revoked the appointment of Linda Nkatha as the Affordable Housing Board chairperson.
In a gazette notice dated Friday, July 6, Ruto announced that he was replacing Nkatha with Jeremiah Ndambuki Simu.
At the Affordable Housing Board, Simu who served as a director at the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), will serve as the chairperson for three years.
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 16 (3) (a) of the Affordable Housing Act, as read together with section 51 (1) of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act, I, William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, appoints Jeremiah Ndambuki Simu to be the Chairperson of the Affordable Housing Board, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from July 5, 2024.
The appointment of Linda Nkatha Gichuyia (Dr.) is revoked," read the notice in part.
Notably, Nkatha's appointment was revoked barely three months after her appointment. The former board chairperson was appointed in March this year.
This was confirmed by Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga who made the pronouncement during an interview on Citizen TV on March 20.
“There is a board that is going to be superintending over these funds, and it has a very wide representation. A workers representative from COTU sits on the board, representation from the employers that is FKE sits on the board, the counties representation which is the CoG sits on the board, and then we have three independent directors and a Chairperson who is also independent,” the PS stated then.
“On that note, I’d like to congratulate Dr Linda Nkatha who was actually appointed by the President today to be the Board Chair of the fund.”
The reasons for the revocation of Nkatha's appointment are yet to be known as the Head of State did not explain the changes.
The Affordable Housing Board is mandated with overseeing the implementation of Ruto's housing projects including allocating funds for the undertaking of various projects.
As detailed in the Act, the chairperson is required to have experience in matters of housing, law or banking.
