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"speaker_name": "Mr. J.M. Mutiso",
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"legal_name": "John Mutinda Mutiso",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have just said that this country's population is about 32 million people and according to the statistics released by the CBS, we have been informed that 56 to 58 per cent of Kenyans now live on less than a dollar a day. These figures also explain the state of housing and other welfare amenities that exist in this country. About 15 million people in this country live in shanties in slum areas. A good number of them are, in fact, homeless. What has the Government done in the last few years to address the issue of lack of housing? Through the Ministry of Housing, the Government has done very little to try and cushion the majority of Kenyans from the problem of housing. If you look at the 2005/2006 Budget, the Government only allocated a paltry Kshs600 million for housing purposes. This year, the Budget has remained constant despite the fact that our population has increased, and the rate of people migrating from rural areas to urban areas has even risen. The Government has allocated very little money to cater for the problem of housing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, take the example of South Africa. It has a population of about 46 million people. This financial year, the Government of South Africa provided for R6 billion, which is equivalent to about Kshs9 billion, to cater for housing. In South Africa, the state of housing is incomparable to ours. What used to be called Soweto Slum is no more. It is now a habitable place. Kenya has the largest slum in the world; it is called Kibera. How much has the Government done to try to mitigate this problem? We have heard about the Kibera Slum Upgrading Project where the Government has, in theory, allocated Kshs485 million to be used in uplifting the standards of housing for the people living in Kibera. Are we just going to remain a country which is host to the largest slum in the World, at the heart of its capital city? The people living in this slum provide labour to the industries in the Industrial Area of Nairobi City, and yet the Government is doing nothing about their welfare. That is the reason why I have brought this Motion before this House. It is urging the Government to come up with concrete policies that will make housing affordable to the majority of Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have a very lofty and comprehensive economic policy in the name of the Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS). This is a Paper which was mooted by the NARC Government to try and capture the needs and aspirations of Kenyans with regard to propelling this country to economic prosperity. Kenya is also a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which states that all countries should strive to provide housing to all its citizens by 2006. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the last two years, we have not seen much as far as the housing policy is concerned. The private sector, which is the engine of growth in this country, was also supposed to make a substantial contribution to alleviate the problem of housing in this country. But the investment in housing, either rental, mortgage or one-time buying, involves 2018 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 12, 2006 substantial amounts of money. We have only one premier institution in this country, which tries to provide housing to both urban and rural areas, the National Housing Corporation (NHC). I remember that in the 70s and early 80s, it was quite affordable for middle level income earners to access loans to build houses in rural or urban areas. At that time, corruption was not very rampant as it is today. From 1988 onwards, we started seeing public institutions and parastatals being managed through patronage. That housing institution was badly mismanaged, and today, it is an ailing institution with a very big portfolio of bad debts. The private sector, which was supposed to cater for commercial activities, came in to fill the gap. Commercial banks and financial institutions loaned people money at very high interest rates. The people who had acquired houses in Buruburu and Kayole Estates using commercial loans ended up losing them even after paying double the amount of the money which they had borrowed, yet, the In Duplum Rule has remained in the papers! It has never been executed at all. People borrowed money from financial institutions and were charged four or five times. Somebody who borrowed Kshs2 million or Kshs3 million to buy a house and repay the loan for five or six years ended up paying Kshs7 million or Kshs8 million over and above what he or she had borrowed. There was very little regulation of interest rates in this country. When the new Government took over, the former Minister for Finance, Mr. Mwiraria, formulated the In DuplumRule, where no bank or institution could charge double the amount of the loan facility advanced to its customer. But, today, there is apathy even in the financial institutions. Low and middle income earners cannot access loan facilities because the policy is still not very clear. Therefore, there is need to have an Investment Act where low income earners can access loan facilities without fear of losing their property in the long run. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the housing market has not remained buoyant. A lot has been done in terms of constructions. But if you travel around Nairobi and tour areas like Hill Valley, Kileleshwa and adjoining areas near Tigoni, where new structures are coming up, there are very beautiful estates being developed. But look at the price tags of some of those apartments and houses. They are ranging between Kshs3 million to Kshs 6 million. In fact, when I did my research, I found out that those houses were targeting non-resident Kenyans who were working abroad. The housing units we are now creating are not targeting local consumers; they are targeting people who are living in London, Washington and other places in the world, who have surplus funds to invest here when they retire from abroad. The country is suffocating because of lack of provision of houses. There is an urgent need for this Government to come to the aid of Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, yesterday, as I was listening to the Vote of the Office of the President, I was disappointed very much, particularly when Mr. Michuki said from the Dispatch Box that the military, armed forces and other core sectors within that department will not have any new housing units coming up simply because he requested for money but that request was not acceded to. If the Office of the President, which is the most sensitive Ministry in the country, cannot provide housing for the police who are supposed to maintain law and order, who else should be provided with housing in this country? If you look at the Budget Estimates, Kshs3 billion has been allocated to the Office of the President for Development Expenditure, while Kshs600 million has been allocated for housing. This is supposed to cater for over 16 million people who do not have proper housing. We really need to think about this issue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, every year, multinational financial institutions like Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank make billions of shillings in profits. There is nothing wrong with this, but there should be some social responsibility to ensure that our people are housed properly. It is not fair for a worker to be underpaid and spend the night in a makeshift structure with his family. July 12, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2019 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently there was shift of policy by the Minister for Finance, particularly about the incentives and benefits of top civil servants with regard to transport and housing. I was left wondering what plans he had in place for the middle cadre and the lower cadre civil servants. Today a Minister is given one vehicle of his choice, either a four-wheel drive or a Mercedes Benz. He is also paid Kshs250,000 as transport allowance. The same applies to a Permanent Secretary all the way to job group \"N\". Below that, nobody is given that allowance, including house allowance. If you give a subordinate staff a house allowance of Kshs1,500 where do you expect him to get a house worth that kind of rent in Nairobi? You will find that a clerical officer gets a house allowance of Kshs1,800. Where can such an officer get such kind of house? This is a big imbalance which the Government needs to address. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me talk about community re-investment. I know that the Government is either preparing or warming up to bring up a policy on housing. This is a very simple concept. We want to create a catalyst for development and preservation of affordable multi-family rental housing by pooling together financial institutions' incomes; either 2 or 3 per cent of their profits to be pooled together. This pool should be made accessible to different schemes in different areas, where people from the low income groups can access them and buy or build houses at an affordable cost. There is no rocket science behind this concept. It is a very straightforward mechanism. This Motion has come at the right time, when Kenyans are yearning to own houses in this country. Therefore, I urge the Ministry to move with speed and introduce this Bill to enable many Kenyans realise the dream of owning houses. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I request Mr. Muturi to second the Motion. I beg to move."
}