Court declares Ruto’s housing allocation promises to teachers, police unlawful

• The court declared that remarks made by the President on June 3 and September 13, 2025, could not lawfully alter or supplement the allocation criteria set out in the Affordable Housing Act and its regulations.

The High Court has ruled that presidential pronouncements giving teachers and police officers preferential access to affordable housing units have no legal effect without a basis in law or policy.

In her judgment, Lady Justice Patricia Nyaudi held that the President cannot introduce new housing allocation criteria through executive pronouncements where the law does not provide for them.

The court declared that remarks made by the President on June 3 and September 13, 2025, could not lawfully alter or supplement the allocation criteria set out in the Affordable Housing Act and its regulations.

“A declaration be and is hereby issued that the pronouncements made by the President on 3rd June 2025 and 13th September 2025, absent a statutory or policy basis, are of no legal effect and cannot lawfully alter or supplement the criteria for allocation of housing units established under the Affordable Housing Act and its Regulations," stated the judge.

The ruling follows a constitutional petition filed by John Maina Ndegwa and Marshalls Tito Ongoya, challenging proposals to reserve 20 per cent of affordable housing units for teachers and a further 20 per cent for members of the National Police Service.

"What the court opined is that those statements that were meant by the president allocating 10 per cent of the affordable housing units to the police and teachers and to the teachers of this republic, the court found that that proposal is null and void; it is not supported by any existing law, so the point is blank and all Kenyans are entitled to the affordable houses," said the petitioner's lawyer John Maina.