Marsabit Senator Chute Mohamed has poked holes into the intention of the Affordable Housing Program even as Kenyans contribute 1.5 per cent of their earnings to the Housing Fund.
Chute who doubles up as a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Roads on Housing spoke on Thursday at the floor of the Assembly.
He said it does not make sense that the government is giving land for the project free of charge yet the final product is sold to Kenyans at a costly price.
"Speaker, this issue of Affordable Housing is a scam. If you look at the government giving land for free, the same government is giving tax-free building materials, same government is giving value added taxes free, and also transferring that land free of charge," he said.
"I don't know what kind of calculation they are making. You give free government land, which is public land to an individual and then that individual builds properties at an unaffordable price, commercial price?"
The Senator was speaking about a petition filed by residents of Mombasa who had raised concerns about an affordable housing project.
Chule said the affordable housing project in Mombasa, upon completion, was being sold at a costly price compared to the market value yet the government gave land for its construction.
"If the President can hear me, he should stop all developments purported as being Affordable Housing. There is nothing like Affordable. These are crooks, thieves and a calculated move to steal from this country," he said.
"Why am I saying this deal is crooked? Because why should the land owners who are Kenyans be given 10 per cent while the developer gets 90 per cent?" he posed.
When the project came, only one tender came out for the 13-acre piece of land.
According to the Senator, the completed affordable housing project in Mombasa was being sold at Sh90,000 per square yet the market value is about Sh70,000 and below.
"My friend bought 104 square metres property in Great Wall. He bought two maisonettes at the cost of Sh3.5 million. And if you divide 3.5 million by 104, you are getting that land at Sh 34, 000 per square metre. So why should somebody tell me that after giving this land for free, its price will go to Sh90,000 per square metre?
"In that committee, my view was that the government has lost land to fraudsters in the name of developers. I will tell you today, after 10 years there will be no land that will be left for Kenyans to use because all the land that is supposed to be developed by the government will have been taken over by fraudsters pretending to be developers," he said.