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"id": 241920,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kajwang",
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"speaker": {
"id": 164,
"legal_name": "Gerald Otieno Kajwang",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the chance to address this Motion as it is, although there is an amendment that the Minister wants to bring. When the NARC Government took over in 2002, our promise was to create 500,000 units of houses per year. The only thing we did not tell this country is how we would implement it. I remember that the National Housing Corporation, which has the mandate that this Motion seeks to implement, came up with a very revolutionary idea . The revolutionary idea was that it would float housing bonds worth Kshs5 billion. The housing bonds would be traded in the Nairobi Stock Exchange to fetch Kshs5 billion for the National Housing Corporation to build housing units in this country. That proposal was given to the Treasury a year ago. The Treasury refused to accept it. So, there is no way we can fund affordable housing with taxpayers' money. There is not enough money to build enough housing units, redress the problems we have in our slums, build rural housing schemes and give money to the National Housing Corporation (NHC) to avail cheap loans to Kenyans. So, I thought that we must go back to where the NHC started, at the beginning of our term in the Government. We said that we must raise money from the public through housing bonds. That money would then revolve, like my good friend Mr. Wetangula said. If that money revolves, money realised from 500,000 units could build another 500,000 in a year, as we go along. Unless we go that route, I can tell you that the NHC will close down. They are now busy selling houses from which they have been collecting rent. They are not building any new houses. If they are building them, then it is for another market and not the cheap housing we are referring to. However small they build those houses, they will still cost Kshs4 million and above. So, I do not see how we can solve that problem with taxpayers' money and the little money that the Government gives to NHC. The Nairobi City Council (NCC) used to build houses. Uhuru and Jericho estates are examples. The NCC stopped building houses in the 1960s. In all countries, it is the city councils which build city houses. But just go to the City Estates Department - which they call Housing Development Unit - and ask them to show you a single house that they have developed! They will tell you: \"There is nil!\" They are under-funded and they do not have any sources of revenue. So, unless we think of revamping the NHC, NCC and other municipalities by giving them money, we will not go anywhere! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another terrible thing that is happening in Kenya is July 19, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2179 that Kenyans are not facilitated to build houses. When the Government tried to do that in Kayole Estate and built roads and provided water and electricity, look at what Kenyans did! However bad Kayole is, at least, thousands of Kenyan workers can get a single room each. Kenyans can invest, if they are given facilities. Look at Kayole and Zimmerman estates. There are no roads or a sewerage system in Zimmerman. The people have done a tremendous job by putting up very decent houses there. If Kenyans can offer to develop, why do you not give them roads? Why do you not give them a sewerage system? Why do you not give them water? Unless the Government does that, nobody is going to be encouraged to invest in housing. The third problem is: If NHC is still going to buy land to develop houses, then the cost of the house must reflect the cost of land. Why should Kenyans buy land when they want to develop, so that they can build houses? Why can the Government not give land to an investor? Why did the Government give land, especially in the last regime, to speculators? You give me land, I tell you I am going to develop a housing estate and then, I sell it before I develop it. The person who buys it also sells it before he develops. He sells it with the consent of the Commissioner of Lands. So, unless we are serious with our housing efforts--- Give free land! If there is no free land, the Government must buy that land, construct the roads, put up sewerage systems and supply water and electricity. It should also give Kenyans loans to build houses. You can get that loan from the same Kenyans by issuing housing development bonds. Unless we take those steps, we are not serious about housing. Why did the Treasury throw away the NHC proposal to raise Kshs5 billion? It is just because they did not like the face of the person who was running NHC. The Minister just looked at him and said: \"How can a Luo give us a proposal of Kshs5 billion?\" The Luo was a good architect and thinker. He was not doing it for himself. He was doing this country good by getting money from Kenyans and putting it into an investment that would help Kenyans. Let us stop thinking of who is doing what. Let us look at the proposals that can help Kenyans. I know that the Minister is good and he is very focused. I also know that he wants this country to build some housing units, even if we do not get 500,000 units. I want to ask him to go back to the idea of housing bonds. Tell the Cabinet that we do not want to buy land. We want to develop houses and, therefore, we should be given a free land. I do not even know why we have to keep so many animals near the City here, and call it a national park. There are enough national parks in this country. We can develop that piece of land. I saw some houses near the national park. They have been there for the last 20 years. I do not know who was developing them. It might be the Kenya armed forces. We should put some money there and complete those houses. It is a shame to see some houses that have remained incomplete for the 10 to 15 years, when we only need, maybe, ten per cent of the value to finish them and get some people to occupy them. I have seen some houses near the War Memorial Hospital that look very bad. Those houses are almost complete. If you cannot complete them, please, give them to me for free. I will complete them and rent them out. I would become a millionaire very soon. Please, do something about it. It is not fair for a Third World country to watch that kind of money go to waste, when we need houses. That is especially when that project is next to Kibera, which is the biggest slum in Africa. May God bless you. Do something about that. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}