Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has shared deep insights which can help President William Ruto circumnavigate opposition from Kenyans in the implementation of the Affordable Housing Programme.
In a interview, Raila first revealed that the idea is not bad but it’s implementation is what is causing problems.
The opposition leader said that the vision he and former President Mwai Kibaki had for affordable housing was not to force people to pay and buy homes.
In some cases, Raila said, the government should allow Kenyans willing to buy houses to pay a deposit for a house instead of imposing taxes across the board.
He said the objective was to improve the housing standards of people living in informal settlements without loading heavy taxation or repayment plans on them.
“It was never about telling people to repay; where will they get that money?” Raila said during the wide-ranging interview on Saturday.
Raila said the Kenya Kwanza government has failed to explain to Kenyans what it is all about before it is rolled out.
Azimio leader said the government’s programme should not be about building similar houses across the country but designing homes based on the various needs of regions and people.
“I brought about affordable housing and slum upgrading programme when I served as minister for housing in the Kibaki government. Affordable housing does not mean that you build same houses all over of one-size-fits-all,” he said.
“You can’t have one design, in other areas you build bungalows, in some areas, residents provide land and labour while the government provides materials to improve their houses.”
Raila said the government should have first held a major national conference on its change of policy on housing so that all Kenyans would understand what it was all about before it was rolled out.
“We needed a national conference like the one we had in Bomas during the Kibaki era in Kenya we want. When you bring something like this that will affect people’s income, they must have trust that they will benefit,” Raila explained.
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