Ruto renews attack on affordable housing critics over 'chicken' remarks
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President William Ruto has renewed criticism of opponents of Kenya's Affordable Housing Programme, revisiting the debate over chickens and high-rise housing during a rally in Narok.
President William Ruto has renewed his criticism of opponents of the Affordable Housing Programme, questioning their objections to high-rise housing developments and revisiting remarks about chickens and multi-storey buildings.
Speaking during a rally in Narok on Tuesday, Ruto criticised those he said were being paid, hired or deployed to oppose the government's housing programme. He referred to arguments that some critics opposed high-rise housing because chickens could not climb stairs to upper floors, saying: "Use your common sense, my friend."
The debate intensified last month after Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna questioned the suitability of multi-storey affordable housing developments for some communities. Speaking in an interview, Sifuna said some people from the Western region were accustomed to living in homes where they could keep livestock and questioned how chickens would access apartments located on upper floors.
The remarks mark the latest addition to an ongoing political exchange over one of the Kenya Kwanza administration's flagship programmes, which aims to deliver affordable homes to low- and middle-income Kenyans.