Principal Secretary (PS) State Department for Housing and Urban Development, Charles Hinga, revealed that houses constructed using the contentious housing levy scheme would be issued out to citizens through a national lottery.
Speaking during a late-night interview on Tuesday at the Citizen TV studios, the PS stated that one had to register and start making monthly contributions as mandated by the government.
Mr Hinga went on to affirm that despite the housing levy being a compulsory government initiative, homeowners would be determined using the lottery system in order to give each one a shot at owning a house, a statement that puzzled Kenyans country-wide.
"One has to register and start contributing before a house is allocated to them. A lottery system will be then employed to determine who will get a house under this particular system," PS Hinga revealed to Hussein Mohamed.
When questioned on his views regarding the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans opposed to the housing levy, the PS emphasised that the levy was not recently drafted but actually part of the Jubilee manifesto issued out during the campaign period.
"Jubilee said they were going to build 500,000 houses in their manifesto, they went to every Kenyan, the fact that you elected them, you knew they made a commitment and they had to fulfill it," he divulged.
He added that the housing levy was not a tax but rather a contribution, as unlike in the case of taxes which comprised of no direct benefit, the housing levy guaranteed a tangible advantage as one was set to get a house, albeit after going through the lottery.
The PS said that the levy was compulsory because Kenyans made the distinctive choice to endorse the Jubilee government and its overall vision, thus earning themselves the right to proper housing under vision 2030
"Every Kenyan has a right to decent housing. The question we should be debating now is how to fund that right," he retorted.
PS Hinga reiterated that the government was working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the 500,000 houses would be completed by 2022.
