• Under the planned Housing Fund, salaried Kenyans will be under a mandatory obligation to contribute three per cent of their monthly basic salary towards the fund.
• Their employer will be tasked with making an equal levy making a maximum contribution of Sh5000.
Image: FILE
Criticisms have continued to be levelled against the Housing Fund whose establishment via enactment of the controversial Finance Bill will see salaried Kenyans contribute three per cent of their basic pay.
The mandatory contribution will be matched with a similar amount by employers in what the government says is not a tax per se, but rather, a saving scheme akin to a Sacco.
Critics of the scheme are, however, reading deception in the grand scheme of things.
Among them is former Mukurweini MP Kabando wa Kabando who on Tuesday echoed sentiments by Narok Senator Ledama Olekina that the Housing Fund is a scandal in waiting.
"Why desperately coerce a housing fund? Precisely because it's money to be eaten by the big boys; a slush fund," Kabando said via Twitter.
Under the planned Housing Fund, salaried Kenyans will be under a mandatory obligation to contribute three per cent of their monthly basic salary towards the fund.
Their employer will be tasked with making an equal contribution with the maximum amount set at Sh5,000.
Contributors who wish to opt-out can do so after seven years, but will only be allowed to leave minus the employer's contribution.
In questioning the government's intentions to force Kenyans to contribute towards the affordable housing scheme, Kabando pointed out that there are several other more urgent and pressing concerns that would have warranted this move than Housing Fund.
"If it ain't about money to be stolen, why not UHC to save thousands dying for lack of basic medicare? Why not rescue millions of students missing school for lack of fees?" the former lawmaker posed.
#FinanceBill2023 debate isn't about who voted who 2022. It's about the interrogation of public policy, governance, public finances, TRANSPARENCY, and ACCOUNTABILITY. The past is NOT our mirror.
— Kabando Wa Kabando (@Wakabando) June 6, 2023
President William Ruto has defended the Housing Fund saying besides giving Kenyans dignified living conditions, it will create at least a million jobs annually for the youth.
The President on Sunday warned MPs that he will be waiting to see which member of Parliament would vote against the Finance Bill when it comes to the floor of the House for voting.
"I'm waiting for the Members of Parliament who will go and vote against the employment of these young people, against housing that would give these people the chance to own a house with five per cent mortgage," he said during the homecoming ceremony of Agriculture CS Soipan Tuya in Narok.
The President's sentiments elicited reactions from opposition legislators who feel the Housing Fund is being shoved down the throats of Kenyans.