The 3% Wage Deduction For Affordable Housing Is Opposed By Teachers

Teachers at secondary schools have joined other government employees in protesting a plan to enact a 3% monthly deduction to pay for the Affordable Housing project.

Teachers only anticipate salary increases, not more deductions, according to Kuppet Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima.

“Under the terms of the 2016–21 CBA, teachers last received a pay increase. However, the 7.5% pension, greater NHIF taxes, and the economic hyperinflation have reduced the benefits, according to Nthurima.

On Sunday, President William Ruto suggested that all Kenyans who receive a salary make a mandatory monthly payment for the Housing Fund. We have a housing fund to which we want every Kenyan to contribute 3% of their income in order to enable many Kenyans to purchase homes under the affordable housing scheme. If you make Sh10,000, 3% of that equals Sh300 per month, according to Ruto.

Nthurima claimed that teachers already had access to funding for home construction. He continued by saying that since most instructors live in rural areas, they do not need metropolitan residences. The new PSSS Act allows teachers to use up to 40% of their pension contributions for home construction. For the construction of dwellings, they do not require a new tax, he declared.

Civil servants, teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission, National Police Service, Prisons Service, National Youth Service, and any other service determined by the Cabinet Secretary under the PSSS Act are all covered by the PSSS, which is run by a board of trustees governed by the RBA. Employees on permanent and pensionable (P&P) terms of service who are under 45 as of January 1, 2021, are eligible to join this new contributory system.