President William Ruto has defended his daughter Charlene, saying that she was excited about being the child of a sitting president when she alluded to having set up the “Office of the First Daughter”.
Charlene has come under attack in recent weeks after she declared herself as the occupant of the nonexistent office.
“Leave my daughter Charlene alone. These are kids, they are just being children. So you know very well that there’s no such office,” Ruto told a joint TV interview at State House on Wednesday night.
“That’s hilarious,” the president said, “This a girl just trying to be herself at her pace. Her friends are advising her maybe we should do this and that. She is okay, she’s just being the daughter of William Ruto and sometimes she doesn’t know the difference between the President and the father.”
The first daughter came under fire in December when she introduced her delegation in Tanzania as members of staff of the Office of the First Daughter.
She was addressing delegates at the 2022 You Lead Summit held at the East African Community Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
“So before again I continue, I wanted to introduce quickly my team from Kenya. So, I’ll start from the back. This is Mike Sagana, he’s one of my team members. He’s a politician and he’s the principal advisor on my team. And this is Jermaine Momanyi, he is the head of trade and investments at the office of the first daughter…” began Charlene Ruto.
“…I don’t get what’s funny,” Charlene said in reaction to the laughter.
The third born in the first family later came out to defend her remarks on the ‘Office of the First Daughter’.
Through a statement, Charlene said that the office exists, but as a private entity.
“The Office of the First Daughter is a private entity. It is neither a constitutional office nor is it being funded by Kenyan taxpayers. The office runs to purely facilitate the activities of & any programs being run by Ms Charlene Ruto,” the statement read in part.
She added that through its independent structure and facilitators, the office has engaged various players across the country and beyond in line with some of its objectives of championing youth-based agendas and climate change advocacy.
“The Office of the First Daughter has at all times acted in good faith to ensure that the Kenyan Youth have a voice and get access to opportunities to enable sustainable livelihoods.”
