Oguna defends Jubilee administration’s performance on affordable housing
By Francis Muli, July 12, 2022The affordable housing agenda by the Jubilee administration has been delivered “beyond expectations”, government spokesman Col (rtd) Cyrus Oguna has said.
Oguna was responding to sentiments by political analyst Prof Alfred Omenya, who claimed that the “Jubilee Administration has failed to deliver on housing”. According to Oguna, Professor Omenya did not have his facts correct.
“250,000 housing units have been completed across the country. -Another 650,000 are in the pipeline, way more than the 500,000 promised by Jubilee Administration. The houses are in Park Road, Jevanjee, Pangani, Mukuru, Soweto ‘B’, Meteorological Site, Buxton Point (Mombasa), Bondeni (Nakuru), Mavoko (Machakos), Kiambu, and Embu,” Oguna said in a statement.
“This is one of the programs that has been delivered beyond expectations. It has now gathered its own momentum, attracting the private sector to move in, thereby, leaving the Government to provide facilitation and oversight,” Oguna added.
Affordable housing promise
The affordable housing programme was launched in 2017 as one of the key pillars of the ‘Big Four Agenda’. The government had planned to deliver 500,000 by 2022.
The government offers the programme through the Boma Yangu Online Platform, which facilitates the registration for housing allocations and has so far attracted about 329,714 applications as of July 2022.
The platform supports three kinds of contributions namely; statutory contributions capped at Ksh2,500 per month per employee, voluntary monthly contributions and joint contributions.
Contributions to the Housing Fund can be accessed as soon as 15 years after a member’s first contribution or the attainment of retirement age.