Agency Report

NAIROBI – Kenya is to scrap the budget of the First Lady’s office and dissolve more than 40 state-owned companies as part of austerity measures to address the country’s budget crisis, President William Ruto announced.

This comes after unprecedented anti-government protests forced the government to withdraw a controversial finance bill that had proposed tax increases.

”Budget lines providing for the operations of the offices of the First Lady, the spouses of the Deputy President, and the Prime Cabinet Secretary shall be removed,” President Ruto said in a media briefing on Friday.

”47 State Corporations with overlapping and duplicative functions will be dissolved, resulting in the elimination of their operational and maintenance costs, and their functions will be integrated into the respective line ministries,” he said.

The move is part of ”enhanced austerity measures” his government has committed to implement aimed at aligning its expenditures with ”the budgetary implications of the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024,” the president said.

Government advisors reduced

Workers at the companies will be transferred to ministries and other agencies.

”The number of advisors in government shall be reduced by 50% within the public service, with immediate effect,” Ruto added.

Normalcy has returned to the country after weeks of protests that resulted in dozens of deaths and widespread disruption.

At least 39 people were killed in protests, which began on June 18 over planned tax hikes, according to a report by the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

The Finance Bill 2024 that brought about the unrest was a cornerstone of Kenya’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), aimed at addressing the country’s fiscal challenges.

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