Kamukunji Member of Parliament Yusuf Hassan on Monday accused fellow MPs under the ruling party of failing to listen to President William Ruto over austerity measures.
In a media interview, Hassan revealed that United Democratic Party MPs were not in tune with the President after proposing a budget for Rachel Ruto's office despite Ruto scrapping it to cut on expenditure.
"Parliament members of the ruling party appear not to be in tune with the President because the President seems like he reflected and is saying we will make a lot of changes. But in Parliament if you look at for example the Finance Committee has returned the budget for the First Lady," he stated.
Hassan argued that this was a different approach compared to what President Ruto announced publicly weeks ago. The Head of State announced that his administration would be scrapping the Office of the First Lady, the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President and the Office of the Spouse of the Prime Cabinet Secretary following a wave of unrest.
The politician argued that the MPs were proposing a budget for a private individual while at the same time slashing the budget for crucial sectors such as education, health and water.
"We are not cutting down on these excessive expenditures that are completely unnecessary and could be financed by the Office of the President in a way he would like to," he added.
He further emphasised that the excuses fronted by the MPs for failing to implement Ruto's directive were not sincere. The budget was reintroduced with MPs arguing that if the office was scrapped, people would lose their jobs.
However, MP Hassan argued that people were also losing jobs in other critical sectors such as education and health. He added that prioritising these sectors was more beneficial to the country.
Furthermore, the MP reiterated that the country must focus on important matters especially due to the current tension and increased protests.
In the interview, Hassan also lamented that members of parliament had not reflected on the issues that transpired last month arguing that 'people had forgotten and they want to go back to things as usual'.
On the issue of the Office of the First Lady being scrapped, the Budget and Appropriations Committee on Thursday rejected the proposed budget cuts.
The National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security also opposed Ruto's directive arguing that terminating employment contracts would result in legal challenges which translates to additional costs.
Before Ruto's announcement, Rachel Ruto's office was set to be allocated Ksh696.6 million while Dorcas Rigathi's office was set to receive Ksh557.6 million.
