Ruto is the biggest beneficiary of recent protests – Charles Owino
The Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) Chairman Charles Owino has said President William Ruto is the biggest beneficiary of the anti-Finance Bill 2024 and anti-government protests, saying the head of state now has the opportunity to reduce government expenditure without backlash.
Speaking during a local TV interview, Owino remarked that Ruto inherited a bloated public service wage bill and that the anti-Finance Bill 2024 and the subsequent anti-government demos had presented the opportunity to address this issue.
"You have given the President an opportunity to reshuffle his cabinet and nobody will complain. The biggest beneficiary of these actions is the president because he will be in a position to reduce salaries, reduce the number of cabinet secretaries and that of principal secretaries," Owino stated.
Among the many demands that the anti-government protesters presented was the cutting down on wastage and state largesse.
President Ruto on Thursday, July 4, 2024, convened a cabinet meeting at the State House to iron out some of the contentious issues arising after he withdrew the Finance Bill 2024 following widespread public disapproval.
Senate urges cabinet dissolution
The cabinet meeting comes amid intensified calls by the president's allies to dissolve his cabinet.
On Wednesday, July 3, 2024, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot implored the President to crack the whip on under-performing Cabinet Secretaries in his administration.
Cheruiyot said the senate would do everything in its capacity to ensure the country gets back to its desired trajectory, adding that persons arrested for the demonstrations about the Finance Bill 2024 be released for national healing to begin.
“I tender my unreserved apology to the country either by commission or omission on anything that I may have contributed to where the country is. I took a lot of reflection in the last few days, remembering that God has put me in a position of responsibility and wondering what I could have done better,” Cheruiyot said. 
Similarly, Senate Majority Whip Boni Khalwale expressed his dissatisfaction, stating that a Cabinet Secretary he could not name had employed two of his sons in his office and that nepotism was glaring in government offices.
Khalwale urged Ruto to dissolve the entire Cabinet and fire the Inspector General of Police and his advisors for letting him down.
"I call on the President to disband his cabinet and reconstitute it afresh. Do away with the Chief Administrative Secretaries and also the Office of the First Lady. Do away with unnecessary public offices and also fire the Inspector General and presidential advisors for incompetence," Khalwale said.
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