This archive report was first published on 14 December 2019.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's ambitious Big 4 agenda has been dealt a significant blow with the concession on the housing fund levy during his Jamhuri Day speech on December 12, 2019.
By making the contribution to the fund voluntary, the President effectively scaled back his ambition to deliver 500,000 affordable homes by the end of his second term in 2022.
With the mandatory enforcement of the levy, which would have seen up to Sh5,000 deducted from a worker's monthly salary, the government would have had a steady flow of cash to build a few of those homes.
However, given the dogged opposition to the housing fund and the general cynicism among Kenyans towards similar government schemes, it is highly unlikely that many workers and employers will take a chance on it in whichever form it mutates to next.
Moreover, the concession on the housing fund levy is a reflection of the President's growing realization that none of his legacy Big Four Agenda goals will be achieved.
With time running out, the President has only three years left in his second term, but the final year will be largely unproductive due to election campaigns and corruption cartels in the civil service.
Furthermore, the persistence of myriad policy and leadership challenges would still make it almost impossible to achieve any of the Big Four Agenda goals even in another 100 years.
