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{
    "id": 136198,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/136198/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 441,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Kenyans have access to affordable housing and especially the poor and the vulnerable groups. This has been seen clearly through the provision of housing through the slum upgrading programmes that have been carried out throughout the country, the major towns and mainly in Nairobi, especially Kibera where for a long time descent housing was a dream. Through the efforts of the Ministry, the issue of housing for the urban poor has been made a reality. We hope that this will be extended to other towns so that many more can benefit. We also wish to commend the Ministry for the Civil Service Housing Programme that has made it possible for civil servants, who for many years would work and upon retirement would all be sent to their rural homes because houses in urban centres were not affordable to afford houses. But through the Civil Service Housing Programme, many of them now have been able to access proper housing and that even after retirement they can continue living in the city together with their families. It is also important to note that it has been a great motivator when the civil servants know that they can also be assisted to own houses in town and, therefore, to feel that they are not just there to work for the Government but also to uplift their living conditions. It is also worth noting that shelter is a basic human need and whenever we fail in availing or giving access to this basic human need, then, indeed, we are depriving our people of a great need for their survival. Therefore, we wish that the Ministry will continue in its endeavour to ensure that more Kenyans have housing and descent housing, for that matter. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it has also come to the attention of the public that a lot of the construction that is going on to supplement the Government’s efforts is in good faith and goes a long way to ensure that we have housing for the poor and the middle class. However, the standards being observed by the people who are undertaking these constructions is not up to standards and that the monitoring of the standards being applied is not very well coordinated. To that effect, we have contractors who have put up apartments and there are no clear criteria on what is expected of them, what materials they are using and what supervision is done. Therefore, you find a housing programme has started and even before it is completed, people have purchased it and the certificate of occupation and all the other things are given without thorough checking. It would also be important that even as we look at standards, especially for Nairobi, which is growing very fast, that we also ensure that other facilities that would be important for a growing city like Nairobi and other big towns are also incorporated. For example, we would be able to make it mandatory that solar panels, which will reduce the cost of energy and our dependency on hydro and other expensive fossil fuels, are incorporated as a mandatory measure for us to be able to make our houses cheaper and affordable to maintain. Secondly, water storage is a big problem in this country. We continue to talk of lack of water or clean water yet when it rains all the water goes down. Through proper planning and adequate facilitation for those who are in the planning sector, we can be able to harvest the water that comes when it rains. This would help us to ensure that when there is water rationing, we can use the water that we have harvested over time. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it has also been a big concern that the people who are in the construction industry and especially the steel-makers, the cement manufacturers and the people who produce the materials like concrete and others do not have clear standards. This has been a major concern and we would wish and hope that the"
}