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President William Ruto has outlined plans to scrap off the Offices of First Lady Rachel Ruto and that of the spouse of Deputy President Dorcas Rigathi as part of fresh austerity measures to keep his government afloat.

Speaking during a roundtable with journalists at State House, President Ruto said; “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.”

“I have seen some of the demands that they have made,” he continued. “They have said don’t hire CASs, and I agree with them. They have said remove the office of the First Lady, the spouse to the Deputy President, and all that, and I agree with them.”

Elaborating on these austerity measures following the withdrawal and rejection of the Finance Bill, the President pledged to cut down his office’s budget, acknowledging the challenges this would pose across various state departments.

Under the new budget, the allocation for the First Lady’s office was increased by 17.3 percent to Sh696.6 million, up from Sh593.9 million in the previous financial year. A significant portion of this increase was directed toward salary payments. However, the allocation for the spouse of the Deputy President, Dorcas Rigathi, was reduced from Sh717.6 million to Sh557.5 million, despite her budget having been doubled earlier through a mini-budget in the National Assembly. Initially, the offices of Rachel and Dorcas were set to consume Sh1.2 billion in the new financial year, a reduction from Sh1.3 billion in the prior year.

 Rachel Ruto has dedicated her tenure to environmental and climate action, financial inclusion, and women’s empowerment. As the founder and patron of MaMa Doing Good, which she actualized in 2009, her organization has grown from 60 women to over 240,000 across 44 of Kenya’s 47 counties, revolving over USD 21 million.

 In her article published on Project Syndicate the World’s Opinion page, Rachel stated that his Organisation MaMa Doing Good works with communities across the country to facilitate access to clean energy for lighting, cooking, and other productive uses. In that article, the First Lady indicated that the Clean Cooking Delivery Unit in the Office of the President is seeking to unlock private-sector financing for Kenya’s ambitious climate and clean-energy goals, including universal access to clean cooking by 2028.

“Beyond Kenya, the Organization of African First Ladies for Development advocates for the uptake of clean-cooking technologies,” she stated.

According to her profile on the official website of the President of Kenya, Rachel Ruto is lauded as a thought leader on environment and climate action, financial inclusion, and women’s empowerment.

She also founded the Joyful Women Organization in 2009, an initiative to financially empower rural women.

Her accolades include the State Commendation Elder of the Golden Heart (EGH) and an Honorary Fellowship for Women Empowerment from Binary University of Malaysia in 2014. Appointed by the African Union Commission and the World Economic Forum as a high-level Champion of the AU Decade on Women Economic Empowerment and Financial Inclusion in 2021, the First Lady, who holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Kenyatta University and a Masters of Arts in Development Studies from the Catholic University of East Africa, remains passionate about mentoring young people, empowering women, and is an avid cyclist.

 Rachel  aims to mentor and train 90,000 women in financial inclusion by the end of July 2025.

Dorcas on her part is focused on empowering the boy child, setting a target to identify and screen 12,000 boys for drugs and substance abuse within the next year.

During a recent visit to the Miritini Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Mombasa, she advocated for enrolling recovering drug addicts in TVET institutions to equip them with essential life skills.

Following President Ruto’s pronouncement on measures targeting to axe the two offices, it remains to be seen on what will be the fate of the projects already benefiting from the offices.

In a further nod to fiscal prudence, the President announced the scrapping of Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) positions, underscoring his administration’s commitment to austerity in these challenging economic times.