Kenya to Employ Blockchain To Monitor Affordable Housing Project

Kenya’s government intends to employ blockchain technology to administer a government housing scheme, which involves the construction of 500,000 houses. According to the economical housing program, the government of Kenya supposedly aims to construct 500,000 units by 2022, and support contributors earning lower than 100,000 Kenyan Shillings ($992) as they cannot manage to pay mortgages. According to a report by Star, out of the 2.48 million Kenyans employed in 2016 only 77,000, or 3.1%, earned over Sh100,000.

The Star further states that blockchain technology will be utilized to make sure proper allocation of housing to worthy members in the scheme and tackle issues of graft from both lawmakers and recipients.

According to the report, the government trusts that the latest technology will put back public trust in the government’s housing activities, subsequent to the National Youth Service scandal, in which 40 government employees and 14 private sector executives were detained for plundering $78 million from the project’s coffers.

Regarding the reasonable housing program, Charles Hinga, Principal Secretary, World Bank in Nairobi, Housing and Urban development, said:

“Kenya will use blockchain technology to ensure the rightful owners live in government funded housing projects.”

The project will supposedly be funded by the National Housing Fund under the Finance Act of 2018. Kenyans will donate 1.5% of their remuneration to the fund and the sum will be matched by their employers.

This is not the initial effort to make use of blockchain in Kenya at the governmental level. Recently, Kenyan Distributed Ledgers and Artificial Intelligence task force chairman Bitange Ndemo stated that the government should contemplate tokenizing the economy to prevent “increasing” rates of bribery and uncertainties. This move, as per Ndemo, would enable the government print a lesser amount of hard currency.

Earlier in June, “decentralized liquidity network” Bancor in joint venture with non-profit foundation Grassroots Economics unveiled a network of blockchain-based community currencies in Kenya intended at fighting poverty. The project looks to inspire local and regional commerce and peer-to-peer action by facilitating Kenyan communities to build and administer their own crypto tokens.

While blockchain- and token-based ventures are being employed in the country, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) is cautious toward cryptocurrencies. In April, the CBK issued a notice to all banks in the nation, forewarning them against transacting with crypto or involving in dealings with crypto-related entities.