Charlene Ruto’s ‘Office of the First Daughter’ sparks online debate

President William Ruto’s daughter, Charlene, is yet again in the middle of an online storm after introducing members of a team that works with her at the Office of the First Daughter, as she calls it.

While addressing delegates at the 2022 YouLead Summit held at the East African Community headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, on Tuesday, Charlene called her team to introduce them to the audience.

“Before again I continue, I wanted to introduce quickly my team from Kenya. So, I’ll start with the back. This is Mike Sagana, he’s one of my team members. He’s a politician and he’s my principal advisor in my team. And this is Jermaine Momanyi, he is the head of trade and investments at the office of the first daughter…” says Ms Ruto to claps and laughter from the audience.

In a video seen by Citizen Digital, Charlene flips her hair while smiling, before she attempts to carry on amid the commotion.

“This is…I don’t get what’s funny,” she says.

Seeing as Kenya does not have such thing as an Office of the First Daughter in the constitution, Charlene’s comments have drawn mixed reactions from Kenyans online.

“Lakini Charlene Ruto surely, now there is an ‘Office of the First Daughter’? Complete with a team of ‘Advisors’ and probably a cabinet. Wueh,” said Twitter user @Wachira_254_.

Caxstone P. Kigata wondered: “You mean we have an Office of the First Daughter fully financed by the Exchequer?”

“Office of the first daughter??? It's giving Ivanka Trump,” Wagatwe Wanjuki wrote on Twitter, while Alberto Nyakundi asked, “I am confused over here. Is it a public or private office?”

Charlene has, since her father’s assumption of office in September, been traversing the country, meeting various county leaders, and even flying out to meetings with foreign dignitaries.

She has branded herself a ‘climate change activist’ and a voice for the youth, which she alluded to in a recent interview when asked about her engagements.

“I feel like there is a lot our president is doing internationally and nationally, also our first lady, our CSs, county governors and that kind of thing, but who is standing up for the youth?” Charlene posed in the Saturday interview with YouTuber Mungai Eve.

“Since our president loves the youth so much, we already have a seat on the table, but who is going to push for the youth? That is why I decided to be that person and I’m going to be a voice for the youth and stand up for them and the communities.”