30.5 Percent Of Kenyans Failed To Pay Their Rent For April

30.5 percent of Kenyans could not pay their rent for the month of April as a result of the deadly Covid-19 messing up their sources of income.

A survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) showed that 21.5 percent of Kenyans paid their rent for the month of April late.

The main reasons those who could not pay rent for the month of April were; reduced income at 52.9 percent, temporary job loss at 22.4 percent, unemployment at 13.9 percent, delay in receipts at 9.1 percent.

59.8 percent of Kenyans paid their rent for the month of April on time as agreed upon by their landlords, not because they had money but they did it to avoid being ejected from the houses.

8.7 percent of households surveyed by KNBS said that their landlords had cushioned them by waiving the rent for one to three months apart from water and electricity.

Most landlords, however, did not waive rent and did not give their tenants time to pay and ejected them as soon as they stayed past the agreed time.

READ: 70 Kenyans Have Died Of COVID-19 With Over 900 Positive Infections

The majority of Kenyans who could not pay rent were ejected and some are living with friends and relatives especially in Nairobi where there is a cessation of movement preventing them to leave the city.

There have been calls on President Uhuru Kenyatta to compel landlords to waive rent as a result of Covid-19 but the President has always avoided the subject only calling on landlords to be “human” and “considerate”.

Since the confirmation of the first Covid-19 case in Kenya, things started to move South for the majority of Kenyans. Businesses such as bars, clubs, hotels, air travel, salons, and others shut down leaving millions of Kenyans either jobless or with a reduced source of income.

As Covid-19 continues to bite, and as numbers continue to rise, things are set to become more difficult for Kenyans. Will the government help save Kenyans during this difficult time?

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