Charlene Ruto

Charline Ruto has issued a statement to clarify that the ‘Office of the First Daughter’, which she has made public about its existence, is a private entity and that it is not funded by taxpayers’ money.

Charlene, who is the third-born child of president Ruto, made the clarification in a statement on Wednesday after Kenyans took to social media following remarks she made on Tuesday, regarding the existence of the said office.

  “The Office of the First Daughter is a private entity. It is neither a constitutional office nor is it being funded by Kenyan taxpayers. The office runs to purely facilitate the activities of and any programs being run by Ms. Charlene Ruto,” a statement issued on her Twitter account stated.

Charlene, who was speaking at an event, triggered the uproar after she moved to introduce members of her team; saying they work at the “office of the first daughter”.

The audience she was addressing could be heard laughing in the background in the video that has since gone viral. Charlene pauses midway her introduction to ask the audience “what was funny”.

“I don’t understand what is funny” she remarked.

In the statement, charlene also added that her foundation and office has engaged various local and senior foreign leaders in line with her main objective of championing for the youths through a youth-based initiative.

“Through its independent structure and facilitators, the office has engaged various players across the country and beyond in line with some of its objectives of championing youth-based agendas and climate change advocacy,” she said.

Since her father’s election, Charlene Ruto, who has never been in the public limelight and was quietly working at her father’s Weston Hotel, seems to be making calculated steps in thrusting herself to the public.

She has recently been involved in making donations to the poor and last week launched her foundation in Kibra. She maintains that her office will continue acting “in good faith” to ensure the Kenyan youth have a voice and access to opportunities for sustainable livelihoods.