Wednesday, February 7, 2024 - Two National Assembly committees have raised questions about the acquisition of public land for President William Ruto's affordable housing project.
Members of the Departmental
Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works, and the Departmental
Committee on Finance and National Planning called for the amendment of the
Affordable Housing Bill 2023, to protect public land.
According to the MPs, Kenyans
are growingly concerned with how the government would compensate land owners, including
public institutions, whose property has been earmarked for the project.
County Government officials
expressed concern about the fate of land allocated for development projects if
the government opts to use it for affordable housing instead.
"This follows concerns over
the process of identification and conversion of land for the implementation of
the program, that arose across multiple counties during the recent public
hearings on the bill," read a statement from Parliament.
In a meeting with the National
Lands Commission (NLC), the MPs sought to find out how the commission was to
address the glaring loophole.
Emurua Dikirr MP Johana Ng'eno
and the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning, and Public Works asked the commission to clarify the loophole.
He noted that if the government
was seeking to use public land, the right procedure should be followed.
"We decided to invite you
to the Committee after we realised that there’s a need to enrich the Bill so
that it can adequately address the matter of land acquisition for the
Affordable Housing Program for now and the future," he stated.
If the bill is amended, the MPs
noted that it should include a provision for the process and amount to
compensate the affected landowners.
The Kenyan DAILY POST.
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