Ruto Scraps Off Office of First Lady, Announces Firings in His Office
President William Ruto on Sunday revealed that the offices of the First Lady and the Second Lady will no longer be prioritized in his administration.
Speaking during the Presidential Roundtable at State House, the Head of State noted that the two offices will be scrapped beginning the new Financial Year beginning tomorrow, Monday, July 1.
He noted that the decision was made after the anti-Finance Bill protests that led to his administration shelving the Finance Bill 2024 in its entirety.
“I know citizens have said there is no need for the office of the first lady and second lady but these are offices that have been there because we have to live within our means, those offices from tomorrow will not be part of our equation because in the face of what has happened, we have to trim down every other area,” the Head of State explained.
He further noted ministries and state departments were on his radar for budget cuts to sustain the government in the next financial year.
The President further hinted sectors that will experience budget cuts include; the Judiciary, which he boasted of increasing its budget from Ksh18 billion to Ksh25 billion when he took over the reins.
Counties are also set to experience budget cuts.
In the recently presented budget, the counties scored a major win after seeing their budgets increased to Ksh400.1 billion after the Council of Governors’ protracted talks with the National Government.
During the interview, the Head of State further noted that after dropping the bill, his office would be the first casualty with the possibility of retrenchment.
He noted that his team is looking to implement austerity measures aimed at trimming offices and retrenching staff.
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Ruto also explained that the decision to fire staff and government employees will form the agenda of his discussion with the youth, expected to take place in under a week.
“I will not lie to the country that putting down the Finance Bill is going to be easy. I have to be brutally honest and those consequences must start with me,” he added.
“To cut down the budget in my office and to implement an austerity program that will cut down on unnecessary staff and offices that we can take down. I am ready to even engage the young people for us to agree on what we do with the debt.”
Initially, the Head of State had cautioned that should the Finance Bill fail, operations at the Office of the President would see a reduction of Ksh451 million while the State House would lose Ksh500 million.
Other areas that would suffer steep cuts included Internal Security which risks losing Ksh2 billion from the budget and the Ministry of Defence risks seeing Ksh7.75 billion wiped out.
The Head of State further explained that he chose not to appoint the 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs) despite receiving approval from Parliament noting that the timing was not rife.
“No CAS will be appointed until we have an economy that can support more opportunities,” he told the panelists.
Ruto Scraps Off Office of First Lady, Announces Firings in His Office