Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 241934,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/241934/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 244,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Mango",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 288,
        "legal_name": "Christine Mango",
        "slug": "christine-mango"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I would like to add my voice to Members who have spoken before me. Housing is a human right and Kenyans have a right to housing. Unfortunately, in this town, most Kenyans live in the slums, where they are not provided with basic amenities. They live below the average human accommodation level. The Government owes Kenyans proper accommodation. Therefore, the mushrooming slums should not continue escalating everywhere. Kenyans living in those slums have no basic facilities like toilets and water. Life in the slums is worse than life in the rural areas. In the slums, you will find a parent sharing accommodation with his grown-up children, which is contrary to African culture. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government needs to put up affordable accommodation, where a parent can live in an enabling environment. In some countries, the government has put up houses for its citizens. The houses are graded in such a way that there are those for the rich, the middle class, and the low income. Those living in the low income houses move in without paying rent deposits. Rent deposits have been a constraint to many people. Most Kenyans cannot afford to pay rent deposits before they occupy a house. We should have a policy whereby people can move into a house and pay the rent deposits in bits. Many Kenyans suffer in the hands of the landlords paying rent until they retire, and they leave the city without owning any house. This situation should not continue because at the end of the day, a person has paid rent his whole life but he has nothing to show for it. We should have a housing policy where someone moves into a house and pays affordable mortgage, then 30 years down the line, that person owns that house. So, this Motion is very appropriate. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should not only concentrate on housing in urban areas. Kenyans living in rural areas also need good housing. Our forefathers lived in thatched houses. Forty years after Independence, Kenyans should not continue living in thatched houses. They need to improve their housing so that they can be seen to have moved from colonial times to Independent Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, housing in urban areas needs to increase as the population increases. At the moment, there are houses that were put up in the Eastlands area during colonial times that are still in place. Since then, we have not put up any new houses. We need to come up with imaginative schemes and, for example, find use for the money that is being held by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Anybody contributing to the NSSF should be entitled to some housing. That money should be used to put up houses and any contributor should automatically qualify to occupy a house. In so doing, many people will invest instead of just paying money to the landlords. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, mortgage schemes in this country are prohibitive. Many people who tried to buy houses have lost their houses because they cannot afford to pay the 2186 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 19, 2006 mortgages. We need to have affordable mortgages where someone will continue paying according to his income."
}