President William Ruto scored a win after the Court of Appeal allowed the government to continue collecting the controversial housing levy, albeit until January 26 when the court will decide whether to lift the order or grant a further extension.
A three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal ordered that the status quo be maintained until it rules on Attorney General Justin Muturi's application seeking to continue collecting the levy pending the determination of an appeal on its legality.
The High Court quashed the levy on November 28 for being discriminatory but suspended the judgment until January 10, to allow the government to pursue an appeal.
“In the meantime, the status quo obtaining as of today shall be maintained until the delivery of the ruling,” Lydia Achode, John Mativo and Mwaniki Gachoka said.
Another application, seeking to lift an order blocking the implementation of the Social Insurance Act, 2023 was also pending hearing at the Court of Appeal on the same day but it was pushed to another date because of lack of time.
Mr Muturi had pleaded with the court to allow the collection of the levy arguing that it had created more than 120,000 jobs since it was started six months ago.
The Attorney General added that the workers would be rendered jobless and contracts already signed breached if the court did not extend the order.
“Infrastructure projects initiated pursuant to affordable housing, and in line with the government’s objective to facilitate affordable housing for the public, are presently underway. In the absence of a stay, the abrupt halt to these projects will lead to irreparable damage, significantly impacting the economy,” Mr Muturi said in submissions filed in court.
The affordable housing fund is gross-on-gross taxation on workers' income where the Kenya Revenue Authority uses the same gross to also calculate the Pay As You Earn. Every employee contributes 1.5 percent, matched by a similar percentage by the employer
