President William Ruto on Sunday, June 30 announced that the government will scrap the Offices of the First Lady and the Office of the Spouse of Deputy President (OSDP) after uproar amongst Kenyans.
Following the announcement, Kenyans.co.ke analysed budget allocations for the two offices and established that the country will save at least Ksh3.7 billion in the next three financial years.
"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 but because we have to live within our means, those offices from tomorrow will not be part of our equation," he stated.
Office of First Lady
During the 2024/2025 financial year, Rachel Ruto's office was to be allocated Ksh696,647,667 for recurrent expenditure.
According to Budgetary Estimates by the National Treasury, the Office of the First Lady was to receive Ksh668,183,032 in the 2025/2026 financial year.
The office was also projected to receive Ksh713,643,065 in the 2026/2027 financial year.
In total, for the three financial years, Rachel Ruto was to receive Ksh2,078,473,764.
Since Ruto's inauguration, the First Lady has centered her initiatives around women empowerment and environmental initiatives such as forest restoration.
Office of the Spouse of Deputy President
On the other hand, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi was set to receive Ksh557,565,241 in the financial year that started on July 1.
In the remaining two consecutive years, the OSDP was to receive Ksh571,627,816 and Ksh583,529,847 respectively.
Therefore, for three years, Pastor Dorcas was to receive Ksh1,712,722,904.
Pastor Dorcas has been undertaking initiatives to uplift the boy child. In particular, the programmes have centred around the rehabilitation of drug addicts and economic empowerment programmes.
Projects That Can Be Funded
Kenyans.co.ke also highlights 10 notable projects that can be funded by the Ksh3.7 billion which will be saved in the next three years.
In the current Financial Year, here are each of the 10 programmes that need Ksh3.7 billion in funding and below:
- Ksh3.0 billion - School feeding programme.
- Ksh2.6 billion - Kenya National Hospital Burns and Pediatrics Centre.
- Ksh2 billion - Free maternity healthcare.
- Ksh2 billion - Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund.
- Ksh1.3 billion Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) Training of Teachers.
- Ksh1.2 billion - Construction and equipping Kenya Medical Training Colleges(KMTC).
- Ksh1.1 billion - Construction and strengthening of cancer centres.
- Ksh1 billion - Construction of housing units for the National Police Service (NPS) and Kenya Prisons.
- Ksh1.1 billion - Kenya Youth Empowerment Program.
- Ksh1.5 billion - Kenya Hunger Safety Net Programme.
