President William Ruto has revisited one of the defining promises of his former boss, Uhuru Kenyatta, the affordable housing agenda, revealing why the project faltered and how he intends to finish what was started.
Speaking to Kenyans in Qatar, Ruto described the early enthusiasm he and Kenyatta shared for the housing plan, conceived as a way to lift millions out of informal settlements.
“We sat with Uhuru and thought, the housing agenda has failed in all our predecessors, we must accomplish it,” he said. “He then told me of a guy called Charles Hinga, an expert in housing based in South Africa. I told him, let’s bring him onboard.”
According to Ruto, the vision was derailed before it could properly take off. “Before we could start collecting the money from Kenyans, the court battles began,” he said, accusing activists of obstructing progress through endless litigation.
“Uhuru called me and asked, ‘Si wewe ukona nyumba? Si mimi nikona nyumba? Kama hawa hawataki, then let’s not waste time.’”
The setback forced Kenyatta to scale down the project, with only a fraction of the expected beneficiaries receiving homes. Ruto claims to have revived the programme since 2022, despite facing similar opposition.
“When I started rolling out the programme, the same people ran to court,” he said, adding that he later persuaded some critics, including COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli, to drop their resistance.
New data from the Kenya Revenue Authority shows Sh73.2 billion collected through the housing levy in the 2024/25 financial year. Ruto said none of the funds have gone to borrowing, with more than 200,000 units under construction and thousands of jobs created. He compared the effort to Singapore’s housing transformation, calling it a tough but necessary decision to move Kenyans forward.
Yet doubts persist over the achievements of Kenyatta’s administration. Official claims about completed housing units vary sharply, with some sources citing about 186,000 homes by late 2021, while government spokespersons put the figure closer to 250,000 by mid-2022.
This is against the anticipated 500,000 affordable housing units as promisesd in the UhuRuto manifesto.
Ruto urged Kenyans in the diaspora to invest directly in the ongoing programme rather than sending money to relatives who misuse their savings.
“Just register and deposit your money. The houses will be delivered unlike those people whom you send money then they keep sending photos of your neighbour’s house as they eat your money”
