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{
"id": 1385341,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385341/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
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"content": "institution, are telling us to do as Parliament. That every Kenyan, including the ordinary citizens, those that they sometimes purport to represent in petitions, must pay this particular levy. It was the general thinking of many of us given the fact that we live in an almost a quasi-socially state. Any adult who lives in this country and has gone through public education, has been educated through the taxes of other Kenyans; all of us in this House, including the members of staff. The reason why we have formal education is that in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s when we went to school, there were people who were working, and their salaries were deducted. That is what paid for our education. The thinking at that particular time was to move this particular nation forward and its citizens into living in decent households. Madam Temporary Speaker, further on, while moving this Bill, I challenged the people to read it. I have heard some fools out there, asking who told the Government that Kenyans do not have houses. Article 43 of the Constitution on the economic and social rights in this country does not just talk about houses, but it talks about decent houses with access to good sanitation. Madam Temporary Speaker, at that particular time, it was the thinking that those of us that are doing well and have a salary and form a very small portion of our country, would do well to support this programme, so that it benefits the entire country. Unfortunately, LSK and the courts and all those that petitioned, have asked that this be levied on all Kenyans, including those that do not have a salary. Like I have said, since we are a constitutional democracy, we are left with very little to do other than pass the Bill as now proposed. This is so that for anybody to benefit under this programme, be it under affordable or social housing because there two parts of this programme, then they must at least pay something. It is not a very bad thing because it is also a show of commitment on our citizens. Madam Temporary Speaker, the second thing is that it provides the legal framework establishing the board and the institution that will run this particular fund. I congratulate the Committee on Roads, Transport and Housing for working expeditiously over the last few days in ensuring that they give us this programme and guide the House. I have seen that they listened to Kenyans and tabled a report. Last week, I followed when presenters such as Jua Kali workers and ordinary citizens who are going to benefit from this programme came before them. In fact, affordable housing programme is a wrong title for this programme. It should be the jobs programme for ordinary citizens. This is because millions of young people are going to be employed. Many jobs that you can imagine such as plumbers, masons, electricians, architects, carpenters and others will arise out of the successful implementation of this programme. The United Nations (UN) Habitant told us that by 2063, more than 50 per cent of the world will be living in urban areas. When you fail to plan, you are actually planning to fail. If as a country, we do not make a decision on what we are going to do with our urban population that is paroling and growing, then, in another 10 or 20 years, we will"
},
{
"id": 1385342,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385342/?format=api",
"text_counter": 422,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
},
{
"id": 1385343,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385343/?format=api",
"text_counter": 423,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
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"content": "have slums in every part of this country. There is no county that you can think of that does not have a slum today. This is because of lack of planning. There is a need for housing within urban centres, yet there is no supply. The market has failed to supply good, decent and affordable houses. People do not live in the informal settlements in the Mukuru and Kibra for the like of it. They would wish to live in houses with good toilets and warm showers, but those houses are not affordable or available. That is why this programme is revolutionary and can only be implemented by a bold leader. I congratulate His Excellency the President because of that bold decision. He has spoken about this to the chagrin of many, including even some of his supporters, especially the salaried lot who do not want to pay the price of patriotism. Madam Temporary Speaker, as I had observed earlier, everyone in the country who is an adult of the age of 18 years and above knows that education is the most subsidized programme since 1963. I went through Moi University for four years. The only fees I paid was a total of Kshs80,000 to get a university degree, Kshs20,000 was for each financial year because there were other Kenyans who were working and were paying for my university education. How can I today look at them and claim that I cannot part with Kshs5,000 so that other citizens live in decent households? There is no other programme under this administration better than this affordable housing. I do not intend to be long because I know many hon. Senators want to speak on this particular programme and go into the details. I, therefore, urge my colleagues to support this programme. It is properly defined and now we have set the legal framework. We have also set up the body that will guide the use of these funds together with a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and how to look into the issues of corporate governance of this fund. There is now no excuse as to why this programme cannot run. Madam Temporary Speaker, in the interest of time and to provide opportunity for many of our colleagues who want to speak on programme, I beg to move and request the Senator for Kiambu, the Chairperson for the Roads, Transport and Housing Committee to second me."
},
{
"id": 1385344,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385344/?format=api",
"text_counter": 424,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, the Senate Majority Leader. Sen. Thang’wa."
},
{
"id": 1385345,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385345/?format=api",
"text_counter": 425,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I stand to second that the Affordable Housing (National Assembly Bills No.75 of 2023) be read a Second Time. I am the Chairperson of the Committee on Roads, Transport and Housing. We took time together with the Members of the Committee and scrutinized this Bill. Remember it was brought to the Senate after its passage at the National Assembly. Before I comment on what we did to this Bill and why I am urging Members of this House to support it, 14 years ago, Kenyans bestowed upon themselves the right to housing. One can read that in Article 43(1)(b) of the Constitution which says that it is the right of everyone to have decent housing."
},
{
"id": 1385346,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385346/?format=api",
"text_counter": 426,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
},
{
"id": 1385347,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385347/?format=api",
"text_counter": 427,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, so that I paint a clear picture, it has been in the news and all over that we have seen hon. Members, not only from this House, trying to build decent houses for their constituents. We have seen Members such as hon. Otiende Amollo, hon. Didmus Barasa and hon. Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC, online building houses. However, those houses are not as decent as they should be if we were to go by the provisions of Article 43(1)(b) of the Constitution. That is why this Bill is bringing decency and dignity to the people of Kenya. When this Bill came to our committee, we proposed many amendments because we saw that as was debated at the National Assembly, it did not cater for the rural areas. That is why we are bringing the amendments we will be discussing because this Bill will help us build a decent house for someone in the village who has land and all he wants is a decent house. We are even suggesting renaming the Bill to Rural and Urban Affordable Housing Bill. This Bill is pulling resources together by forming this fund so that we build decent houses. When we have money in one pool, the Bill suggests that every county will benefit. Since Article 96 of the Constitution says that we take care of the interest of counties, the Committee took it upon itself to introduce something that was not there in the first place – the county committees or boards, so that they can have a say in this programme. Madam Temporary Speaker, every county will be having such a committee that will work closely with this fund. As if that is not enough, we also realized that this fund will be collecting money from Kenyans and they must be channeled back to the counties. In the previous amendments, we suggested that some resources from this fund will go to the counties directly so that every county benefits. We received over 29 memoranda from Kenyans with very good suggestions. We even had to invite some stakeholders to appear before us. One of them was the State Department of Housing led by the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, hon. Alice Wahome, together with Permanent Secretary, Mr. Charles Hinga. We even had the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) giving their views. We had the Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Association. All of them, together with others were in support that Kenyans need decent housing. Madam Temporary Speaker, we looked at all those inputs that the stakeholders brought to us. We considered some of them and some were already in the Bill. We always say that every Bill concerning counties must be brought to the Senate. I do reiterate that when we looked at this Bill, the fund was working in isolation. Therefore, we had to loop in counties through the county boards where governors will have say in those committees. We may, for example, have a “hustler” somewhere, a boda boda rider such as in Mitahato village where I was born and that person does not need a house in the urban"
},
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"id": 1385348,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385348/?format=api",
"text_counter": 428,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
},
{
"id": 1385349,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385349/?format=api",
"text_counter": 429,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "area. They may not want to move to Nairobi, Mombasa or Kiambu town, but to live in their area where they do their business. Maybe they have a piece of land, inherited from their father or bought. All that person requires is a decent house. Since they may not have money, why should the Government not provide that housing for such a hustler? Madam Temporary Speaker, we have put that in this Bill. Such a hustler will go to the mortgage scheme that has been introduced by this Bill. Through their voluntary savings and the title of the land they want to build in, they can get an affordable mortgage from the Government. That way they are able to build beautiful houses according to their dreams where they belong and their villages as well. How do we protect such funds from misuse? We use their savings as collateral and their land titles. With that, this Bill has taken care of every Kenyan. What was in the air before seemed like we were only building houses and skyscrapers for the urban areas. However, through this Amendment that will be brought by this committee, we will be building houses for everyone. Without taking much time, I would urge the Members of this House to support this Bill because we said before that we were not involved, but now we are. We were saying the counties have not been looked into, but we have now factored that by making those boards and sending the funds. This Bill is what every Kenyan has been looking for. This Bill is what the courts said we should have. By putting these structures together, we will be able to have everyone in this county have a decent home and a house of their liking depending on the location and place where they come from. I second that this Bill be read a Second Time. Thank you very much."
},
{
"id": 1385350,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1385350/?format=api",
"text_counter": 430,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Question proposed)"
}
]
}