Blow to Ruto as New Petition Filed Against Housing Levy

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and other lobby groups on Friday filed a petition at the High Court that could deal a huge blow to President William Ruto’s affordable housing agenda.
KHRC, together with the other lobby groups in their petition, argue that the levy has driven many Kenyans into poverty while being repurposed as a political tool to woo voters.
Additionally, the lobby together with the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Transparency International Kenya, Institute for Social Accountability, Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi, and Siasa Place described the levy as unlawful, unconstitutional, and socially retrogressive.
According to court papers, they also argued that the levy has continued to target salaried Kenyans who are already burdened by other mandatory statutory deductions.
They further told the court that since its inception, the levy has failed to advance the progressive realisation of the right to housing, negatively impacting over 20 million Kenyans in the informal sector.
”The Petitioner seeks the declaration of Sections 3, 4, 5, and 12 of the Act as unconstitutional, null, and void ab initio. These sections operationalise the Affordable Housing Levy (hereinafter “the Levy”), which imposes a mandatory 1.5 per cent deduction on employees’ gross salaries, matched by employers, to fund the National Housing Development Fund (hereinafter “the Fund”),” the petition read in part.
Adding that, ”The KHRC contends that the Levy, as structured and implemented, contravenes multiple constitutional provisions, leading to economic retrogression, politicisation of public resources, lack of transparency, unfair administrative actions, and discriminatory practices.”
The lobby groups have included the Treasury Cabinet Secretary, the Lands counterpart, the Affordable Housing Board, and the taxman as the respondents in the petition, which seeks to stop the Act, which was enacted on March 19, 2024.
Interestingly, a three-bench judge comprising Justices Olga Sewe, Josephine Mong’are, and John Chigiti delivered a ruling on October 22, 2024, upholding the Act’s constitutionality against claims of inadequate public participation, discrimination, infringement on property rights, and devolution principles.
However, KHRC insisted that its petition was based on different grounds from the issues previously determined in earlier court cases.
Citing data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the petitioners noted that more than a third of Kenyans live below the poverty line, with food inflation and stagnant wages eroding household incomes.
Additionally, they told the court in their documents that the levy further strips workers of scarce disposable income needed for essentials such as food, healthcare, and education.
”Empirical evidence from the KNBS Economic Survey 2025, published in May 2025 and covering the calendar year 2024, paints a grim picture of economic inefficiency and retrogression. The construction sector, which is central to housing delivery, contracted by 0.7 per cent in 2024, a sharp reversal from the 3.0 per cent growth recorded in 2023. This downturn is attributed to elevated input costs, reduced private sector investment, and the diversion of disposable income through the Levy,” the petition added.
The petitioners want the High Court to suspend all deductions and declare the levy unconstitutional.
More to follow:…