President William Ruto’s government is in the process of setting up a settlement fund to raise money for buying land to end land fragmentation in Kenya.
This was communicated by the National Treasury led by Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndungu through the government's Medium Term 2024 Budget Policy Statement.
The document titled Sustaining Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda for Economic Recovery and Improved Livelihoods points out that the fund will enhance rural housing and settlement.
“To support rural housing and settlement, the Government will establish a Settlement Fund similar to the one that was used to acquire land from settler farmers after independence,” the policy statement reads in part.
In the now-being-copied plan, the Government of Kenya bought land from settlers starting in 1963 one year after the death of Kenya's founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in 1979.
At the time, the government used loans from the World Bank and the British Government.
In the 2024, Budget Policy Statement, the National Treasury did not indicate how President William Ruto’s government would source for money meant for the Settlement Fund.
Kenyans who will benefit from the government initiative will be able to gain ownership of the plots.
“The land purchased by the scheme will be subject to land use planning where beneficiaries will own transferable residential plots in planned settlement to stop land fragmentation,” the policy statement expounds.
The Settlement Fund will run concurrently with the affordable housing programme which aims to deliver affordable houses to enable low-cost housing mortgages.
While the Settlement Fund will enhance Rural Housing and Settlement, the Affordable Housing programme aims to bring home ownership within the reach of the majority of the urban population.
The National Assembly is restructuring the Affordable Housing Bill to legalise the Housing Levy which seeks to raise the funds needed to actualise the Affordable Housing plan.
