The pro-government side has voted in favor of the contentious Affordable Housing Bill, which will now go to the next round of voting.
Following a vote that saw 141 votes for the pro-government side and 58 votes for the minority side, the pro-government side won.
Before the bill was put to a Third Reading, the minority side, led by MPs Otiende Amollo (Rarieda), John Mbadi (Nominated), and Wilberforce Oundo (Funyula), objected, claiming it had many loopholes that needed to be fixed.
According to Mbadi, the bill exposes Kenyans, such as Mama Mboga, to needless harassment by the tax authorities, despite the assurance that the fee would only affect those who are employed and have a payslip.
Regardless of the government’s good intentions, housing is still a county government responsibility, according to Amollo, who stated that the national government is working to ensure the measure passes.
One of the changes his team will push for, according to Kimani Kuria, the chairman of the Finance and Planning Committee, is a clause requiring all property transfers from the public to private sector to adhere to the Lands Act.
Kimani Ichung’wah, the majority leader of the National Assembly, praised the courts for overturning the Finance Act Housing Levy and claimed that this action cleared the path for new laws that will enable more effective revenue collection.
