Cleophas Malala pressures governors to scrap their First Ladies budget

United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary General Cleophas Malala has ignited a debate calling on governors to scrap budget allocation to the offices of their spouses.

Speaking on Sunday, July 7, 2024, Malala noted that the governors should emulate the bold steps taken by President William Ruto in freezing budgetary allocation of the Office of the First Lady and do the same at the county level.

Malala insisted that the austerity measures needed to be applied uniformly and the money channelled towards other priority projects.

The UDA Secretary-General challenged the governors to take care of their wives without necessarily using the taxpayers’ money.

“Ile budget ya First Lady imetolewa yote si ati imepunguzwa. Yeye amesema ata shughulikia mke wake, sasa kila mtu ashughulikie mke wake ( That budget for the First Lady has been scrapped off completely. He has said (President William Ruto) that he will take care of his wife, now then let everyone take care of his wife),” Malala stated.

“Na vile vile pia mimi naomba kwa sababu rais ye katika national government amesema ametoa budget ya First Lady, ningependa kuomba magavana wetu wote pia hao watoe budgets za First Ladies wao kwa county governments ( I also request that since the President has removed the budgetary allocation to the Office of the First Lady, our governors should follow suit and scrap off budgets for their spouses),” he added.

Malala called out Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa and asked him to scrap the budget allocation to his wife’s office and instead forward the money towards girl child education.

“Governor Fernandes Barasa now take care of your wife. Stop using resources from the county coffers for issues to do with the First Lady. We want that money for the First Lady here in Kakamega County to be taken and redirected into the bursary programme for the girl child,” Malala emphasised.

The former Kakamega Senator challenged the MCAs to push the debate which will compel governors to scrap off their First Ladies budget allocation.

Ruto freezes First Lady’s budget

Following the anti-Finance Bill 2024 protests which were mainly led by Gen Z, President William Ruto succumbed to pressure and announced several austerity measures after sending the contentious Bill back to Parliament.

Ruto announced publicly that funds remitted to the Office of the First Lady Rachel Ruto and that of Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi would be frozen immediately.

“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,” President Ruto announced.

He also vowed to do away with any unconstitutional offices and reduces government advisors by half.

Responding to the austerity measures, Pastor Dorcas welcomed the move but moved to push forward with her boychild transformation agenda.

“Kama vile wananchi wamesema hawataki Second Lady awe na budget ni sawa, lakini kazi ya wavulana sitawacha (As the citizens have said they don’t want the Second Lady to have a budget, that is fine but the boychild transformation programme will not stop). That is a vision and passion I have for the boy child. I cannot stop because I started even before I was in office,” Dorcas stated.

Dorcas will lose Ksh557 million while Rachel will lose Ksh696 million.

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