Gov’t denies claims of single-sourcing affordable housing materials from Devki Group

The government is set to release an additional 1,088 units of the affordable housing project to residents of Mukuru slums before the end of the month.

This is according to Athman Said, the Housing Secretary, who has also defended the government against claims of single-sourcing for building materials in the affordable housing projects, noting that procurement decisions were left to individual contractors to determine based on their needs.

He also dismissed claims of re-channeling the affordable housing funds to ventures that benefit a few senior government officials.

Athman argued that cases of the funds being channeled towards other development, such as markets, are part of the social infrastructure that is necessary for the affordable housing strategy to create holistic ecosystems.

“The housing levy is ring-fenced by law. You cannot spend it for anything else apart from housing. Now, housing is defined in law to include not just the four walls, but also social infrastructure and physical infrastructure,” said Athman.

“What that means is if you're going to put 1,000 units, which is about 5,000 people, they must have access to schools, medical facilities, and people are trading.”

Further, the Housing Secretary announced plans to hand over over 1,000 affordable housing units to individuals by the end of the month.

This even as he distanced the administration from claims of cronyism in the awarding of supplies to tenders in the affordable housing project, noting that procurement was done by the contractors without being influenced.

“The one you have mentioned, Devki, is just one of the suppliers. Remember, the people who are making decisions on where to get the materials from are the individual contractors,” he said.

“The government does not provide materials currently… They get cement from wherever they are going to get it, and they get steel from wherever they are going to get it, so we do not have a single source.”

The government has been urged to incentivize the private sector to unlock new capital to bridge the housing deficit, with stakeholders calling on the private sector to adopt the latest technology in building to minimize their costs.

Nasra Nanda, CEO of the Kenya Green Building Society, said: “We don’t have clear incentives when it comes to affordable housing, and we need to be clear on that. And then separately, now with sustainability, a key barrier is if I do it the green way, what am I getting in return?”

Tom Oyier, Head of Construction at Crown Paint, on his part noted: “The government agencies, the State Department for Housing, and manufacturers, and the developers, we have to all come together and agree that to deliver affordable housing, we all have to bring in our A-game.”