Omtatah and five others take 1.5% housing levy fight to the Supreme Court

President William Ruto's Affordable Housing Programme faces a fresh legal challenge after six Kenyans moved to the Supreme Court seeking to end the mandatory 1.5 per cent Housing Levy deductions from workers' salaries.

The petitioners, led by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, want the apex court to overturn earlier decisions by the High Court and the Court of Appeal that upheld the Affordable Housing Act, 2024. In an appeal filed on Monday, November 9, 2026, they seek orders declaring Sections 4 and 5 of the Act, which provide for collection of the levy, unconstitutional and invalid.

They also want the court to prohibit the Kenya Revenue Authority from collecting the deductions and to compel the government to refund all the money already collected from employees.

The petitioners argue that forcing workers to contribute towards a housing programme without guaranteeing that they will benefit from the houses violates their constitutional rights, particularly the property right. "Tax measures must be socially just, adequate, equitable, and progressive and must not disproportionately shift the tax burden to the poor and marginalised," they argued.

The six are also questioning the government's decision to use public and community land for housing developments whose completed units are eventually sold to private individuals, and they challenge the public participation process leading to the enactment of the law.

The appeal follows a Court of Appeal judgment delivered on September 25, 2026, which upheld the Act and dismissed challenges to its constitutionality, after a High Court ruling of October 22, 2024, that found public participation adequate and the mandatory employer and employee contributions a valid levy mechanism.