President William Ruto on Wednesday defended his daughter, Charlene, after she referred to her role as that of the Office of the First Daughter.
President Ruto said Charlene was excited about being the child of a sitting president.
During his address to the nation on Wednesday, when asked on what he thought about his daughter’s statement, the head of state said his daughter is still a child and Kenyans should let her be.
"Leave my daughter Charlene alone. These are kids. They are just being children," he said
"You know very well that there is no office called Office of the First Daughter,” the president told NTV’s James Smart.
"This is a girl who is being a child, you know? She has this space, and maybe her colleagues are pushing her… telling her ‘maybe we could do this’, but you know, she is… she is okay," the president added amid mild laughter.
Ruto added that Charlene is just being the daughter of William Ruto.
"Sometimes she doesn’t know when to separate between me being the President of Kenya, and me being her father."
Charlene was highly criticized on December 13, 2022 when she introduced her delegation to Tanzania as members of staff at the Office of the First Daughter.
She was addressing delegates at the 2022 You Lead Summit held at the East African Community Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
After the backlash , Charlene said she ran the office in her private capacity, and that it was not a public-funded 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. It purely facilitates the activities and programmes run by myself," Charlene Ruto said.
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