The National Assembly is set to commence public hearings on the Affordable Housing Bill, 2023.
The Bill, whose hearings kicks off this Wednesday seeks to provide a legal framework for the establishment of the Affordable Housing Fund.
“We will seek to give access to affordable housing and to give effect to Article 43(1)(b)of the constitution on the right of accessible and adequate housing ,’’said Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah .
Despite the High Court declaring the housing levy unconstitutional, Ichung’wah argues court cannot entirely halt the public participation process after a recent court order by a High Court sitting in Kisumu barred planned public hearings on the proposed law following an advertisement published on local dailies on December 9, last year.
According to the advertisement, members of the public and stakeholders had been invited to submit their memoranda on the bill as a written submission as opposed to the current method where lawmakers seek public opinion directly on the Bill.
“The orders did not prohibit Parliament from conducting any other form of public participation including undertaking public hearings across the country on the Bill, or the ordinary stakeholder engagements with key sectors, experts, workers, employers, informal sector, political parties, civil society and marginalized communities etc,” he observed.
The National Assembly through the Departmental Committees on Finance and National Planning and that on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works, has lined up public meetings to collect views from the public on the Bill across nineteen counties, starting Wednesday 17th January for the next two weeks.
Sally Namuye
