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{
    "id": 241950,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/241950/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 260,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Shitanda",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Housing",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 207,
        "legal_name": "Peter Soita Shitanda",
        "slug": "soita-shitanda"
    },
    "content": "I assure hon. Members that the programme within the NHC to upgrade slums is a friendly one. Under this programme, a two-bedroomed house in Majengo slums goes for as little as Kshs1.1 million. The occupants are not required to deposit any money. They just move in and make monthly payments for a period of between 15 and 25 years. I think the concern of hon. Members is: Why do we not diversify that programme? Why do we not roll it out to other towns? We are doing this through the draft Bill that we want to bring to this House. We hope that hon. Members will pass that Bill so that apart from the Civil Servants Housing Fund, the Slums Housing Fund and the Disciplined Forces Housing Fund, we can also have another fund that can be accessed by those who are unemployed or the poor, not just in Nairobi but in other towns of this country. I agree with the hon. Member for Mbita who has said that in order to make all these programmes succeed, we should have a housing bond to mobilise money from the money market which can be invested in housing programmes, not just for the rich but also for the poor. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the absence of an elaborate Housing Act has had some impact on our performance in the Ministry. Currently, we find that some issues to do with housing are handled in other departments, because of the laws that exist today. Some of them are being handled under the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Roads and Public Works, while others are handled by the Ministry of Lands. Sometimes, as Mr. Raila put it, we find that some of the issues are being executed in the Office of the President. So, the draft Housing Bill seeks to harmonise all issues to do with housing into one authority, so that whenever there are issues about housing in the police, the prisons, the army, the civil service and even in the private sector, they are handled by the Ministry of Housing. We have all professionals in housing. In the present situation, we find that even the army and the police are building houses. This way we end up with a situation like the one we had in Nairobi where a building collapsed and killed several Kenyans. When issues were raised, nobody wanted to take responsibility for that action because the law is not very clear about who should be doing what, and what should be done where."
}