This archive report was first published on 16 December 2019.
On December 16, 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the payment of the housing levy would be made voluntary, following mounting opposition from Kenyans.
The decision came after a survey by the AfroBarometer Network revealed that 53 percent of Kenyans interviewed did not support the implementation of the new levy, while 41 percent supported it.
The survey, which was conducted between August 28 and September 26, 2019, involved a sample size of 2,400 adults across the country.
According to the survey, majority of Kenyans living in urban areas – 56 percent - did not support the introduction of the levy, while 51 percent of those living in rural areas also opposed it.
The government had introduced the 1.5 percent levy to be deducted from the basic salaries of employees to fund the National Housing Development Fund, as per the Finance Act, 2018.
However, lobby groups led by the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu), the Trade Union Congress of Kenya, the Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) and the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) went to court to challenge the new levy, arguing that it would increase the burden on workers and employers who were already being overtaxed.
Justice Hellen Wasilwa of the Employment and Labour Relations Court subsequently quashed the implementation of the levy.
