Gachagua asks govt to suspend housing levy to increase workers’ take-home salary

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua urged the government to suspend the Affordable Housing Levy and decrease tax bands to support Kenyan workers, during his State of the Nation address. Gachagua emphasized the need for the government to reduce its expenditure and allocate funds to alleviate financial burdens on citizens. He criticized the government for allocating Ksh18 billion over twelve months for the Affordable Housing Levy, which he believes could be used to subsidize housing projects.

Additionally, Gachagua questioned the effectiveness of the Hustler Fund, a program aimed at supporting micro, small and medium enterprises. He expressed skepticism regarding the program's ability to achieve its intended goal, as it had disbursed Ksh87 billion to 28 million people. Gachagua noted that he had not heard of any Kenyan expanding their business using funds from the Hustler Fund.

He argued that the government could have generated a larger economic impact by directing the funds through registered cooperatives, which could have also helped decrease the high mobile loan default rate.