State House Wants Ksh597 Million for First Lady's Scrapped Office

State House has requested Parliament to re-assign it Ksh597 million for compensating staff from the now-scrapped Office of the First Lady. 

State House comptroller Katoo Ole Metito made the request when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Administration and Internal Security on Thursday, July 18. The comptroller is the accounting officer for State House. 

Metito told MPs that while it was okay to close the office, it was important to compensate officers who had signed contracts with the office before it was scrapped. 

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He added that most of the staff were yet to complete the 3-year and 5-year contracts - which meant even closing the office would incur costs to the taxpayers. 

“These people had contracts and stopping them would attract legal consequences. I understand we need to reduce the budget but we need to do it in a reasonable way not to close the office, ” Ole Metito said.

The comptroller added that, regardless of whether the office was disbanded, the employees had to be compensated according to their contractual agreements, which he indicated were legally binding. 

First Lady Rachel Ruto’s office has since 2022 prioritised faith diplomacy as a cornerstone of her office, with her office reportedly hiring intercessors to pray for the country on a full-time basis. 

In total, State House asked Parliament to re-allocate an extra Ksh1.7 billion after the budget cuts that were initially announced by President William Ruto after the collapse of Finance Bill 2024. 

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Metito indicated State House would need extra funds for foreign travel (Ksh114.6 million), rentals of produced assets (Ksh43.9 million), and hospitality supplies and services (Ksh532.1 million).

Earlier in the month, the President disbanded the offices of the First and Second Ladies. The 2024/2025 supplementary budget released by the Treasury indicates that the Ksh1.25 billion initially assigned to the two offices has been scrapped. 

The President noted that the existence of the two offices were among the complaints he had received from Kenyans participating in the anti-government protests that led to the withdrawal of the Finance Bill.

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Isiolo Governor on the Spot Over Ksh1 Million Spent on a Crate of Soda

Isiolo Governor Abdi Guyo was on Thursday, July 19, put on the spot over a reported expenditure of Ksh1 million for a crate of soda, as highlighted by the Auditor General's report.The governor was grilled while appearing  before the Senate's Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The Governor's team claimed that the payment was raised in 2019 and the payment maid in 2022 without a clear payment voucher - making it hard for them to explain the expenditure in detail.Governor Guyo declined to take an oath when asked to clarify the details of the purchase.