Khalwale wants First Lady, Second Lady offices removed, calls them ‘private family issues'

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale is calling for a total abolishment of the offices of First Lady, Spouse of the Deputy President, Spouse of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and county first ladies.

This is in the wake of President William Ruto’s Sunday announcement that his government will adopt austerity measures after he declined to assent to the unpopular Finance Bill 2024 following public uproar and deadly protests.

Ruto told a media roundtable at State House Nairobi that his wife Rachael Ruto’s office and that of Dorcas Rigathi, wife of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will be scrapped off this year’s budget.

Khalwale on Wednesday termed the offices a waste of public resources. He criticised the Office of the First Lady as unconstitutional, saying it has unnecessarily been “gobbling millions of shillings” over the years.

“As if that is not enough, we have an office for the Deputy President’s wife and another for the wife of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and the same with governors,” Khalwale told the Senate.

“If I ascended to one of these offices, you would shake my family. Who among my first, second or third wife would be the First Lady? Those are private family issues that should never be brought to the public!”

Mrs Ruto’s office has since 2022 been involved in initiatives around religion and women's economic empowerment under a strategy she has christened ‘faith diplomacy’.

On the other hand, Mrs Rigathi has been running ‘boychild empowerment’ programs targeting Kenyan youth hooked on drug and substance abuse.

Both offices were allocated Ksh.1.2 billion in total for the 2024/2025 financial year starting July, with Mrs Ruto's office getting Ksh.696.6 million and Mrs Rigathi’s Ksh.557.5 million.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi launched an office for his wife Tessie Mudavadi in February last year to “complement work being done by the Office of the First Lady and the Office of the Spouse to the Deputy President.”

Meanwhile, Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua has challenged President Ruto to reduce his Cabinet size from 21 to 14 Cabinet Secretaries as part of his austerity push.

“The Constitution states that the President can appoint 14-22 cabinet secretaries. Right now, we have 21. I call on the President, as a demonstration that he has listened to what the people say, to reduce the size of his Cabinet Secretaries from 21 to 14,” Wambua told the Senate.

He also called for a merge of State Departments and consequentially Principal Secretaries from 51 to 14.