President Ruto vows to implement austerity measures in order to reduce government expenditure as he promised to scrap the Office of First and Second Lady.

Speaking during a media roundtable on Sunday, June 30, 2024, President William Ruto noted that his administration is also keen to ensure unconstitutional offices are removed from the equation to save on government expenditure.

Ruto observed that going forward, the Office of the First Lady and that of the Second Lady would be frozen in new austerity measures.

In addition, Ruto ruled out any possibility of appointing the Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs) in the near future.

He said despite parliament making the necessary legislative approvals that paved way for their appointments, he has made a deliberate decision to delay it.

“Offices such as that of the First Lady have existed before, but from tomorrow we are going to do away with that and other offices so that we can check our spending.

On CASs, the court declared themselves on that and we have respected that. We are not going to appoint a CS until our economy can sustain that,” Ruto stated.

Ruto made his comment in response to demands raised by Gen Z on various social media platforms. However, Ruto insisted that his administration will take into account some of their concerns on government expenditure.

Rachel Ruto is majorly involved in faith diplomacy while Second Lady Dorcas Gachagua runs a rehabilitation programme for the boychild and alcoholics.

At the same time, the President pledged to crack down on opulence and extravagance displayed by some state officers, particularly Cabinet Secretaries and MPs.

“I promise you, watch this space. Going forward you will see changes because we must do something about opulence and extravagance. We are going to take measures that will put us in the right place,” Ruto insisted.