Days after Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya (COTU-K) boss Francis Atwoli exposed loopholes that threatened the use of billions of housing levy funds, the government has responded, accusing him of misleading Kenyans.
On Tuesday, June 3, Atwoli revealed that a new set of regulations recently adopted by MPs could be misused to redirect housing levy funds to other projects outside the Affordable Housing programme.
He warned that the new regulations could potentially introduce a loophole allowing lawmakers to channel the funds into projects that might compromise the Affordable Housing plan.
Atwoli noted that the regulations, adopted by MPs but not yet ratified by the Attorney General, could potentially subject the housing levy to misuse.
“Under the Affordable Housing Regulations, housing levy funds may now, erroneously, be used to construct health facilities, pre-primary education centres, basic education centres, fire stations, police posts, social halls, markets, and open spaces, under the guise of 'associated social infrastructure," reads Atwoli's statement.
However, in a quick rejoinder on Friday, June 6, the Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga disclosed that COTU, contrary to their claims of not being consulted, had taken part in forming the regulations.
“It came as a surprise to us, the statement by COTU, because COTU was one of the very few organisations that had the privilege of drafting the Act. They are actually represented in person,” Hinga stated.
He further justified the need to divert the funds, noting that the houses could not be built without existing amenities such as health facilities, markets and schools, citing the need to bring it as a ‘package’ to ordinary Kenyans.
“You can build houses, but if you are far away from those social facilities, such as schools, clinics, then you would not have solved the problem. That is why in the Act, it says affordable housing and associated projects,” he noted.
Atwoli had implied that the diversion of the funds would be a misuse of workers’ funds, but Hinga argued that it was the same workers who would benefit from the expanded use of housing levy funds.
“I saw COTU saying that we are misusing workers’ funds. But it is the same workers who would use the markets and get the houses,” Hinga noted.
While expressing their displeasure with the move, COTU had called for an immediate end to the process and for fresh discussions on the exercise to be held, involving all COTU workers.
The latest comes as President William Ruto is currently aggressively pushing the Affordable Housing project countrywide. Recently, Ruto launched the Mukuru Affordable Housing units, handing over keys to over 1,000 new homeowners.
