Kazi Mtaani Is Abolished- Ruto

President William Ruto has hinted at doing away with the Kazi Mtaani programme launched under former President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration.

Speaking on Tuesday, October 25 during the groundbreaking of Soweto East Zone B Social Housing, Kibra, Nairobi County, President Ruto vowed to include the youth to contribute towards the realisation of the affordable housing projects in the country.

"Kazi Mtaani is outdated now, the work of collecting trash is a no. The work now is building these houses and the first people to get jobs in this project will be from Kibra," he said, adding that the number of youths being employed under the kazi mtaani program was not adequate.

Youths working under the Kazi Mtaani program. /FILE

"The 500 youths per ward hired in the Kazi Mtaani program will be used to construct these homes. You asked for job opportunities, here they are," he added.

Ruto argued that he would empower the Juakali industry by scrapping the Kazi Mtaani program. The industry would contribute to the windows and doors made courtesy of it which would be retrofitted into the thousands of homes the government aims to construct under the affordable housing program.

Ruto also promised to allocate 40 per cent of the affordable housing work to small businesses.

"The urbanization rate in Kenya is 4.4 per cent therefore we must ensure our people have good and affordable houses. In Makongeni, we plan to construct 55,000 houses," he said.

"In the next one year, we will have started construction of 200,000 houses, 50 per cent of all our housing must be in the category of social and low-cost housing so that we pay attention to the majority of Kenyans living in slums."

Speaking on Tuesday, October 18 in Ongata Rongai when launching 734 apartments targeting ordinary Kenyans, Ruto said the project will create at least two million jobs.

This, he explained, would help address the unemployment crisis facing the youth, in addition to providing proper shelter for everyone. 

The program was unveiled by former President Uhuru in 2020 and was meant to provide social protection for workers whose prospects for daily or casual work had been disrupted by the containment policies put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Through the initiative, residents were recruited to undertake projects concentrated in and around informal settlements with the aim of improving the environment, service delivery and providing income generation opportunities.

The workers were divided into groups or cohorts and an individual earned Ksh450 per day for eleven days each, while their supervisors earned Ksh505 per day for 22 days in a month.