Budget allocation for the First Lady Rachel Ruto's office will be increased by 17.3 percent to 696.6 million in the new financial year starting July, a report tabled in Parliament by the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury Njuguna Ndung'u shows.
In the current financial year ending next month, the First Lady’s office was allocated Sh593.9 million. A big chunk of the additional allocation to Mrs Ruto’s office will go towards the payment of salaries.
However, the allocation to the spouse of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has dropped from 717.6 million to Sh557.5 million. Mrs Rigathi’s budget was more than doubled through a mini-budget tabled in the National Assembly in October last year.
This means the budget for Mrs Ruto and Mrs Rigathi will total Sh1.2 billion in the new fiscal year, down from Sh1.3 billion this year.
The First Lady has dedicated her time to environment and climate action, financial inclusion and women empowerment.
She is also the founder and patron of Mama Doing Good and a champion of faith diplomacy, mental health and wellness.
As part of her Women Economic Empowerment (WEE), the First Lady targets to mentor and train 90,000 women in financial inclusion by the end of July 2025.
Mrs Rigathi is focused on empowering the boy child. To this end, she has a target of identifying and screening 12,000 boys for drugs and substance abuse in the 12 months to June next year.
She also targets to train 2,400 boys and mentor another 3,000.
