President William Ruto has announced that the Office of the First Lady and that of the Second Lady will not be funded in the new budget beginning July 1.
Speaking on Sunday, June 30, during a roundtable interview at State House Nairobi, the Head of State noted that the move was to cut down the expenditure of the government.
The president reiterated that the country needs to live within its means, adding that many other sectors of the government were going to face a cut in the new budget.
“I know citizens have said that there is no need for the office of the First Lady and Second Lady. These are offices that have been there. But because we have to live within our means, those offices from the new budget starting tomorrow will not be part of our equation because, in the face of what has happened, we have to trim down every other area,”
“In fact, not just those, many other spaces are going to be trimmed down to reflect the new reality especially after the Finance Bill was taken down by myself,” President Ruto remarked.
He further disclosed that funding to counties and the judiciary will be reduced after he withdrew the Finance Bill 2024.
On the issue of hiring Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs), the Head of State intimated that no CAS will be appointed until the country attains an economy that will support more opportunities.
He noted that even after Parliament approved the position of CAS, he did not appoint anyone to the positions.
“I know people have raised issues about CASs. Even after Parliament approved the position of CAS, I have not appointed any CAS. No CAS will be appointed until we have an economy that can support more opportunities,” President Ruto remarked.
The Head of State asserted that after he withdrew the contentious finance bill, the country was going to borrow Sh1 trillion to fund the budget.
He added that the Members of Parliament who voted ‘yes’ for the bill were the true heroes of the nation because the bill was to unchain country from debt.
“One day Kenya will know that the MPs who voted yes are the true heroes of Kenya. Those are the people who saw the opportunity for us to unchain our country from the debt trap and take our country to the future,” President Ruto stated.
By Clinton Nyabuto
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