Ledama: The solution to housing is with counties, not the national government

Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina has argued that there is a need for affordable housing in Kenya, but the solution should be offered by counties and not the national government. 

"The solution we have is in county governments, not national government. If you look at the framers of the Constitution, they devolved the issue of housing," he said.

In a panel discussion on Daybreak, he added that there is a need for concurrence from both the Parliament and the Senate regarding the housing bill.

"The only way to resolve the housing crisis in this country is to try to deter this rural-to-city migration," said Senator Ledama.

Senator Ledama voiced that Azimio la Umoja coalition had envisioned a plan to tackle the housing problem.

He mentioned that to address housing, there is a need to strategize with county governments to allocate funding to cater to this project.

"We would have gone to each county and ensured that we worked with each assembly to set aside a certain amount of their budget to fund housing. There is a lot of money going to waste," he said.

"How do you dare tax people who are unemployed for you to provide housing for them?" he asked.

He commented that the housing bill is ill-advised, and the bill is being advanced by people who have a vested interest in the project.

Parliament passed amendments to the Housing bill on Wednesday, February21 , that required both salaried and non-salaried Kenyans to pay 1.5% of their salaries.

The opposition disagreed with the proposal arguing that there is no clear mechanism to measure income of non-salaried Kenyans.

"There is a lack of formula that will be used to accurately arrive at 1.5% of the gross income of non-salaried Kenyans," Nominated MP and ODM National Chairperson John Mbadi said.