President William Ruto praised Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga for reportedly recognizing his government’s affordable housing plan, stating that this acknowledgment should put an end to the debate on the housing levy.
Ruto mentioned that Raila believes affordable housing is a commendable project, as they both had a similar idea during Raila’s tenure as the minister for Roads, Transport, and Housing in the Narc government.
Despite being a staunch critic of the housing scheme since its inception, Odinga was quoted by a section of the media stating that there was nothing wrong with the affordable housing plan.
Speaking on a local FM station in Meru county on Saturday, Raila mentioned that affordable housing was the vision of former President Mwai Kibaki, but it was not intended to “force people to pay and buy homes.”
The ODM leader suggested that the government should allow Kenyans willing to buy such houses to pay a deposit instead of imposing punitive taxes across the board.
“The government should have first held a major national conference to make Kenyans understand its change of policy on housing and what it is all about before rolling it out,” Odinga was quoted as saying.
But speaking during an interdenominational prayer service at Approved School in Kakamega on Sunday, President Ruto challenged the opposition leader to support the programme and stop opposing its implementation.
“The former Prime Minister said affordable housing is a crucial initiative and that is what I have been saying. Why did Raila oppose the idea when he acknowledges it as a beneficial project for the people of Kenya? The debate over this program must stop now.” The President stated.
Affordable Housing Project in Azimio Manifesto
Ruto pointed out that the housing program had been incorporated into the manifestos of both Kenya Kwanza and Azimio la Umoja.
“If Azimio had formed the government, they would have implemented it in their own way, but since we (Kenya Kwanza) are the ones in power, we will implement it in our own model,” the President said.
Adding: “Let everyone understand this so that we can move forward with this noble programme that will provide job opportunities for our youth including engineers, carpenters, masons, manufacturers, quarry producers, architects, transporters among others.”
President Ruto urged political leaders to refrain from bickering and instead allow the government to fulfill its mandates, including job creation, enhancing food security, expanding electricity connectivity, providing health services, and ensuring water supply for the benefit of Kenyans.
“In addition, I have negotiated with several overseas countries, including the US, England, Germany, France and Asian countries, for half a million jobs for our youth to work in their countries. We cannot allow a few people to be empowered while millions of people remain unemployed,” he said.
