Kenyans contributing to the housing scheme can be assured their money is safe, the government has said.
This as the state continues to call defends its decision to introduce the housing levy.
Addressing the press Wednesday, Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga stated that an independent administrator will manage the funds as part of measures to enhance governance.
“This is not government money, it is your money, it is the members’ money…the government has no role in it because if I deduct and involve you then you are part of it, it is not different from a Sacco or chama, you can set roles and rules,” he said.
The fund administrator, he said, will have its own regulations.
President William Ruto has announced that all employees will contribute three per cent of their salaries with their employer being compelled to channel a similar percentage.
The mandatory levy, Ruto said, will see Kenyans own homes through the affordable housing programme (AFHP).
Statehouse spokesman Hussein Mohamed in his address during the media briefing said the deduction will be capped at a maximum of Sh 2,500 monthly with an exit provision at the seventh year.
"If one earns Sh30,000 a month, for example, they will contribute Sh900 to the fund as the employer remits a similar amount," Hussein said.
The money, Hinga said, will be deducted at the source through a checkoff system and channeled to the national housing fund.
The fund is an initiative aimed at providing affordable housing.
While defending the programme, the PS said a million jobs are going to be created hence solving the high rate of unemployment.
He further stated that 36,000 houses are currently under construction adding that he has 525 parcels of land to be used for the projects that have been identified across the country.
The Kenya Kwanza plans to put up 250,000 new urban houses yearly. There are also plans to put up 200 houses in each constituency.
Throwing his weight behind the new finance bill, Hinga said the government projects to collect over Sh36 billion yearly from the levy.
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