Azimio La Umoja leader Raila Odinga now claims the Affordable Housing plan undertaken by the Kenya Kwanza regime was lifted from the Opposition faction's manifesto.
According to him, the plan was initially in good faith before the President William Ruto-led administration hijacked it.
"Affordable Housing is not bad. In fact, we had it in our Azimio manifesto. They (Kenya Kwanza) did not have it. They happen to have copied it from us. We appreciate that shelter is among the five basics stipulated in the constitution," he said.
Speaking in a radio interview in Meru, Raila criticised the current administration for lacking proper plans in place to implement the programme.
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For instance, Raila argued that there ought to be decanting sites for people to settle before they are displaced from the areas where the houses are built.
He also criticised the government for using similar designs in the construction of the houses.
"It should not be the case of one-size-fits-all, that you have one design all over. It depends. In other places, you would build bungalows, in other areas the citizens partner with the government by giving land and labour, and the government avails materials, and the construction work is done by the people," he said.
According to Raila, the current regime was implementing the plan wrongly; he accused the administration of sidelining Kenyans when it came to decision-making.
"Such thing as Affordable Housing is a major policy that will affect people's lives, and therefore you need to engage the citizenry and convince them that they will benefit from the programme. You have to assess if everyone needs the houses," he said.
