1.5% House Levy is here and Kenyans are yet to wrap their heads around it. The whys and hows are far from making sense to most of them who at the level of corruption in the country cannot trust anyone with their money however lucrative the Housing Agenda may be.
Finance Bill 2018, which was approved by President Uhuru Kenyatta on ber 21, introduced a 1.5 per cent mandatory levy on a worker’s gross salary with a monthly maximum deduction of Sh2,500 for individuals earning a basic salary of Sh166,000 and above.
These deductions put at an estimated Sh55 billion a year will go into the National Housing Development Fund. Individuals earning less than Sh50,000 per month will acquire homes under a tenant purchase scheme while those earning over Sh50,000 will qualify for a 7 per cent mortgage repayable within 15 years through their contributions to the funds.
Developers will build up to 2,000 houses in every country annually and those prequalified in the scheme will book a unit and begin paying for the off-plan units after registration and the government will run a lottery every year to match the people who have booked to the number of houses available as revealed by Principal Secretary (PS) State Department for Housing and Urban Development, Charles Hinga.
“One has to register and start contributing before a house is allocated to them. A lottery system will be then employed to determine who will get a house under this particular system,” he revealed to Hussein Mohamed in an interview
He insisted that the housing levy was not a tax but rather a contribution, as unlike in the case of taxes which comprised of no direct benefit, the housing levy guaranteed a tangible advantage as one was set to get a house, through the lottery. That the Jubilee government promised in its manifesto housing through a public-private partnership (PPP) system to build 500,000 houses, a commitment that they want to see come to life.
But Kenyans can smell a rat from a distance. How on earth does the government convince one to contribute to the housing fund, to be subjected to a gamble to own a house? Here are some of their reactions on the matter.
Hii ni Krimino!
.@PSCharlesHinga Even you don't seem to believe this is, bwana PS.
You pay for a house by force and then enter into a lottery to win a house?
😅 @HusseinMohamedg @citizentvkenya https://t.co/kBwbxITs9W
— Wheelpower 🇰🇪✊🏾🚲 (@shecyclesnbi) April 23, 2019
Not boarding!
Is a scam!! This housing fund maneno is just so damn stupid, not at all thought out. PS can’t even properly defend it. We’ve seen how NHC houses have been dished out to nani nani. Not forgetting massive theft of public funds.
Gava is trying to play us, but we are NOT BOARDING!— Carolyne Abong (@c_abong) April 23, 2019
What the hell?
Can someone slap for me this donkey! You force someone to pay EVERY MONTH, then use a betting system aka lottery to determine whether this person gets a house or not. Am so mad the next time I see @PSCharlesHinga in the streets I will knock him down with my nduthi.
— We The People (@WeThePeopleKE1) April 23, 2019
Sweet nothings
You will contribute, THERE WILL BE NO HOUSE! Kutukuwa na lotto, THERE WILL BE NO HOUSE! 30 billion from employers THERE WILL BE NO HOUSE! There will be no refund! You will retire THERE WILL BE NO HOUSE! YOU WLL DIE IN DEBT! THERE WILL BE NO JUBILEE & THERE WILL BE NO HOUSE!
— Prof. Alfred Omenya (@aomenya) April 24, 2019
Just focus on corruption, please
Why cant the government just focus on eradicating corruption instead of all these side shows? Thats the only legacy this government can achieve in the short period remaining.
— Numero Siete® (@Odinare_) April 24, 2019
We DON’T want it!
This is a bad idea however clever these men in suits struggle to explain it. Nobody wants it. That's why it's being forced down the throats of Kenyan workers.He has the audacity to quickly say the winners will be picked in a lottery. What? Hussein took him to a corner & ko'd him
— Onderi Magara (@LMagara) April 23, 2019
