We, the so called 'middle class' is not getting it. This a tax on formally employed people to support social housing for the poor and business for the rich.
The scrap from this will only be our contribution which shall be decimated by inflation by then. The employer portion is not refundable and contributions do not earn any interest.

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 11- Residents of Pangani Estate have each been issued with a cheque of Sh600,000 which will cater for their rent as they await the construction of new affordable houses at the estate.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who issued the cheques said the County tenants will be given priority once the units are complete, where they will be allocated a new house at a price of Sh3 million to be repaid with a 30-year period.

On housing, the President said the government is partnering with the cooperative sector to ensure that as many Kenyans as possible enjoy the dignity of owning their own decent homes.

“I am informed that with over 1,980 housing/investment cooperatives with an asset base of Shs 31 billion, cooperatives are an ideal vehicle to provide at least 25% of the 500,000 new houses required across the country,” said the President.

The President revealed that 12 deposit taking saccos have subscribed to the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company which was recently established as a vehicle to unlock liquidity for mortgage financing under the government’s affordable housing programme.

The financial institutions that are participating in KMRC and who are also shareholders of the Company include KCB, Cooperative Bank, DTB, HF Group, NCBA, Absa Bank Kenya, Stanbic Bank Kenya and Credit Bank. Kenya Women Microfinance Bank (KWFT) is the sole MFB (Micro Finance Bank) while SACCOs include Kenya Police, Mwalimu National, Safaricom, Ukulima, Bingwa, Imarisha, Unaitas, Imarika, Tower, Stima and Harambee.

The licensing of KMRC and the expected release of long-term funds to participating banks and saccos is timely for the affordable housing finance agenda in Kenya, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic having severely impacted the mortgage market. With reduced household incomes triggering increase in nonperforming loans and liquidity squeeze especially in the Sacco Sector, KMRC is part of the solution to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in the financial market.

KMRC was established two years ago to support the Affordable Housing Pillar of the Government’s Big Four Agenda.

It will actualize this by providing secure, long term finance to PMLs (Primary Mortgage Lenders), who are then supposed to advance the same to individual borrowers.

The idea is to address the shortage of long-term finance in the Kenyan financial market, while addressing the problem of asset maturity mismatch, which is responsible for the high cost and general inaccessibility of home loans to many Kenyans.

Why do they discriminate againist those earning above 150K in Kenya? The mortgage penetration rate is 2.7 % compared to 30% in SA.
Why should they punish those earning above 150K by requiring that they pay market rates. There is a reason majority of those earning above 150K are not going for the morgages.