President William Ruto's daughter has left tongues wagging following her recent meetings with top officials of several counties.
Charlene Ruto held talks with top county staff in Embu, Kirinyaga, Isiolo and Kitui, eliciting conversation on social media as Kenyans expressed curiosity on the motive of the visits.
Sources at the Assembly said that Charlene met Speaker John Mbabu at around 7 am where they had a lengthy discussion on business.
"Charlene is going around counties looking for business for the Weston Hotel which is associated with his father," said a source who was not willing to be quoted.
Earlier this week, Charlene visited Isiolo Deputy Governor James Lowasa at his office in Isiolo town where they engaged in discussions on mitigating climate change effects.
Isiolo is among the counties that are worst hit by the prolonged drought that is the worst in four decades and which has exposed over 150, 000 residents to hunger. Among the interventions proposed at the meeting, which was also attended by County Trade Chief Officer Lucy Kaburu, was a mass tree-planting drive for increased forest cover.
"A tree planting exercise shall be conducted in December along with another follow-up engagement with various stakeholders," Charlene said on Twitter.
She also visited Kirinyaga and Embu counties, taking the residents by surprise.
In Kirinyaga, Charlene held a closed-door meeting with Deputy Governor David Githanda. Insiders said they discussed agriculture, tourism, climate change and youth empowerment.
She spoke about value addition for farm produce from the region, whose residents' mainstay is agriculture.
"The progress of counties is the progress of Kenya," she said.
In Embu, where she arrived under tight security, she toured the county and met with Governor Cecily Mbarire.
She praised Ms Mbarire and noted Embu's potential for agriculture, sports and tourism.
