President William Ruto now says the government will comply with the High Court ruling on the Housing Levy.
During the 5th Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation-Africa in Nairobi, Ruto stated that the government will align the relevant statutes with the Supreme Law.
“I know the court has said we should go and readjust the law to make it aligned appropriately. That we are going to do so that the 120,000 people can become 200,000 and 500,000 in the next five years because if we don’t engage these people in productive work, they will become a very big challenge to all of us,” he stated.
He indicated that the levy is important as it will benefit all Kenyans and should not be dismissed as it will also reduce unemployment among the youth.
“The young people out there, unless we create real opportunities, and you know we used to know that we are going to grow the economy and the economy is going to create jobs. We are beyond that.”
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“We have to e deliberate, we have to be intentional about where we are going to create those jobs.”
While this was happening, the High Court granted a temporary order to halt the implementation of a ruling that declared Section 84 of the Finance Act 2023 housing levy unconstitutional.
The three judge-bench members, chaired by David Majanja, declared that there should be a stay of execution until January 10, 2024, while an application for an appeal against their judgment is considered.
A stay order was decided upon in response to a motion filed by the attorney general, represented by George Murugara, Mahat Somane, and Charles Mutinda because the state intended to challenge the court's decision about the entire judgment.
The application by the state was opposed by lawyers Evans Ogada, Frederick Ogolla and Ochieng Odinga.
A three-judge bench had earlier has declared the Housing Levy as unconstitutional for lack of a comprehensive legal framework.
