Kenya’s President William Ruto has announced a government policy that will require all civil servants to contribute 3% of their monthly salaries to fund a new affordable housing project.
Ruto has said the policy is not only for government employees, but other Kenyans whose employers will be obliged to give the same 3% to the long-term project.
He said the move is part of his administration’s plan to enable more Kenyans to acquire their own homes. “We want Kenyans to buy houses under the affordable housing project from their income,” he said.
According to Ruto, his government’s plan is to increase the number of mortgages in the country from the current 40,000 to more than 2 million.
With a target of 100,000 affordable houses in Nairobi every year, and eradicating slums in the capital and other cities, Ruto said the housing project will benefit the youths.
“This project will also help create employment for our young people,” he said.
Workers reject Ruto’s policy
However, unions representing civil servants have come out strongly in opposition to Ruto’s policy, describing it as heartless.
The Kenya National Union of Teacher (KNUT) has condemned the move saying they were not consulted.
KNUT says if the government proceeds to implement it, its members will head to the Labour court to seek legal redress.
“We will not accept this deduction. It’s unfair,” says Collins Oyuu, secretary general of the teachers’ union.
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He adds that teachers want their salaries increased, not deducted. “We are still waiting for our increment. Our pay has remained the same for many years,” he said.
Unions want Ruto to withdraw the policy immediately, failure to which they will call for strikes and demonstrations across the country.
“We condemn this heartless and insensitive policy,” says Charles Mukhwaya, secretary general of the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU).
Mukhwaya has accused Ruto’s government of insensitivity to the plight of workers and is calling for more consultations on how to implement such a policy.
The opposition has also criticised Ruto for introducing the policy, which will increase the tax burden for Kenyans amidst tough economic times.
Edwin Sifuna, the opposition’s deputy minority whip in the Senate, says Kenya’s working class needs a break from Ruto’s proposed taxation policies.
“You can choose to milk one cow till it just tilts and tips and stumbles to earth,” he said on Twitter.
