COTU SG Atwoli sides with the President on the new tax policy.
COTU SG Atwoli sides with the President on the new tax policy; In a statement, Atwoli said that 3 per cent house levy will in turn be of more benefit to the workers.
He called out on the workers who are protesting the levy, citing that they are the same ones who were called to the COTU meeting and failed to show up.
COTU stated,”It’s rather unfortunate that even after COTU (K) Secretary General invited all union leaders and the President of Kenya to have a social dialogue on various issues including the 3% housing fund levy, those who skipped the Labour Day Celebrations are now complaining about the resolution of the meeting.”
“It must be noted that the 3 per cent levy is not a tax and that this is a great initiative towards building low-cost homes for Kenyan workers. Article 43 b of the constitution instructs that every Kenyan has the right to accessible and adequate housing and to reasonable standards of sanitation,” COTU added.
They however, noted that any worker who is not interested in the housing levy program, they can opt out anytime.
They stated,”The government of Kenya has made it clear that they have already invested Ksh5 billion into the housing fund and those who contribute to the housing fund and later wish to withdraw their contributions will have access to their savings with interest,”
“It is regrettable that a constitutional right and an agreement between the government and workers is politicised,” they added.
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