Gov’t committed to eradicating slums through affordable housing – President Ruto

The government is determined to do away with the indignity and squalor in slums through the Affordable Housing Programme in towns and cities, President William Ruto has said.

Despite opposition from some politicians to the Affordable Housing Programme, the President said, the programme will go on uninterrupted.

He said the programme is creating employment opportunities and will provide decent housing to Kenyans living in informal settlements. 

“Sometimes you fail to understand why some leaders are opposed to a project that has employed many young people and also enables them to own decent homes,” he pointed out.

Addressing wananchi at Mabatini grounds in Mathare Constituency on Tuesday, during the second day of his working tour of Nairobi County, President Ruto said Kenya will only change through implementation of bold and the right policies.

The President assured residents of Mathare that slums in the area would, in due course, be transformed into decent homes.

“I want to assure the residents of Mathare that slums will be a thing of the past. Our people here will soon own and live in decent homes,” he said.

At the same time, President Ruto explained that the signing of an agreement between him and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga would unite the country, and would not discriminate against any community or region.

“In our plan to unite the country, no community, religion or region will be left behind in terms of development,” the President said.

He pointed out that Kenya should never again be subjected to the politics of division and tribalism, adding that he and like-minded leaders would spare no effort in uniting Kenyans.

“We don’t want tribal or discriminative politics anymore in this country. We will work hard to unite all Kenyans and aspire to create a prosperous country for all,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Ruto said the government has created more administrative units in the country to ease service delivery.

Speaking when he commissioned the Deputy County Commissioner’s Office in Ruaraka, President Ruto noted that National Government Administration officers are central to the coordination of national development.

“We will support the officers to offer quality leadership that would accelerate Kenya’s transformation,” President Ruto.

Further, he said the government is expanding and modernising schools, especially in marginalised and densely populated regions, to accommodate more students and enhance equality across the country.

He made the remarks at St Teresa’a Girls Secondary School, Mathare, Nairobi County, where he committed to building 10 additional classrooms.

President Ruto also promised to buy a chapati-making machine to boost the Nairobi County school feeding programme.

The President later broke ground for the construction of Mabatini Primary School in Mathare.

And during the ground-breaking of the Mathare Vocational Training College in Mathare, President Ruto emphasised the need to equip the young people with the necessary skills to drive the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, ensuring inclusive growth and sustainable development.

He also inspected the progress of construction of classrooms at Mathare Mixed Secondary School.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Governor Johnson Sakaja and Nairobi MPs, who accompanied the President, called for unity and teamwork among all leaders in addressing the challenges facing the country.