Affordable housing project is all about giving Ruto’s cronies tenders: Gachagua

Former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua has dismissed the government’s affordable housing program as a hoax couched in the language of job creation for Kenyan youth.

President William Ruto’s government – which Gachagua served in for two years before impeachment last October – introduced the controversial project, saying it was to address poor Kenyans’ housing deficit and give thousands of youth job opportunities.

It has seen salaried Kenyans part with 1.5 per cent of their pay, matched by employers, since 2023.

“We initially believed the President that the project was about job creation, you know, a lot of English and talk,” Gachagua, who during his DP days hailed the initiative as “greatly beneficial” to artisans and skilled youths, on Monday said during the unveiling of DAP Party’s new headquarters in Nairobi.

“Until it came to my attention that it has nothing to do with that; it is a business. If you want to construct the houses, you have to sign a sub-contract from the Housing Principal Secretary with the company to sell you cement, metal and roofing sheets.”

Gachagua claimed “some of Kenya’s biggest names” are behind the unnamed companies.

“This housing levy is to make sure the construction is going on so they can sell construction materials; that is what the President accused me of not understanding and being incompetent,” he added, referring to some of the grounds listed in his ouster motion.

“Once a new government is sworn in, that housing levy will have to be abolished to restore the payslip’s dignity.”

During last year’s October 20 Mashujaa Day celebrations, Ruto said his government had allocated Ksh.4.4 billion specifically for payments to “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)” supplying goods and services under the affordable housing program.

“Our collaboration with the Jua Kali sector has demonstrated the Affordable Housing Program’s significant potential to transform local manufacturing," he said then. 

Gachagua has recently been forging alliances with political leaders he was previously opposed to, especially since his ouster from Ruto's government, in meetings he has called consultative as he designs his political future.

On Monday, he joined opposition politicians Kalonzo Musyoka and Eugene Wamalwa, DAP’s leader, where he also vowed to make any chance of Ruto’s re-election in the 2027 general election unlikely.

“We are part of this team and will walk this journey together to liberate this country,” Gachagua said. “We will make whatever sacrifices necessary to make sure William Ruto is a one-term president.”

This past weekend he visited Martha Karua, the NARC Kenya party leader who challenged the Ruto-Gachagua presidential ticket as Raila Odinga’s running mate in the 2022 polls, at her home in Gichugu, Kirinyaga County. He has also hosted several other leaders at his Wamunyoro home in Nyeri County.