• William Ruto denies utilizing public funds for a “First Daughter Office.”
• There is no such office under Kenyan law.
• Quickmart Ivanka refers to a budget-friendly Kenyan grocery company.

The president of Kenya‘s daughter Charlene Ruto has denied using public funds to support what she refers to as the “Office of the First Daughter” in response to a widespread outrage.

Ms. Ruto has held a number of high-profile events and meetings since her father’s inauguration in September. There is no such office under Kenyan law.

Online, many Kenyans have been criticizing her engagements and demanding to know who is paying for them.

She frequently attended political events while her father, Donald Trump, was president of the United States, and some have compared her to a “low budget version of Ivanka [Trump]”.

Some have dubbed her Quickmart Ivanka, alluding to a budget-friendly Kenyan grocery.

Ms. Ruto tweeted a video of herself grinning while going through the supermarket chain, so she doesn’t appear to be very angry.

Since her father William became president, Ms. Ruto has met leaders all around the nation and attended worldwide forums with foreign dignitaries.

In a video that has gone viral online, Ms. Ruto can be seen addressing a crowd at a summit in Tanzania and introducing her “team from Kenya,” which includes her adviser and another person who serves as the “director of trade and investments at the Office of the First Daughter.”

The audience seems to applaud and laugh aloud in response.

“I don’t get what is funny,” Ms. Ruto responds as she attempts to continue with the introductions.

On Wednesday, she became one of the top Kenyan Twitter trends as some questioned whether she was exploiting tax dollars.

She responded with a statement saying: “The Office of the First Daughter is a private entity. It is neither a constitutional office nor is it being funded by the Kenyan taxpayer.”

She continues by describing how her “office” is “independently structured and facilitated” and praising its “objectives of advancing youth-based agendas and climate change activism.”

Communications strategist Mark Bichachi told the Media: “If it’s a private entity, why call it that? Use a private name, it’s tied to her father being president.”

While political commentator Daisy Amdany said Ms. Ruto was “within her rights” to do whatever she wants but warned that she needed to be careful about the image she is portraying: “It offends the public that her father ran on [a] platform of ending dynasties and it looks like they want to establish dynasties, I don’t think it’s okay.

The son of a former vice president, Raila Odinga, who was supported by outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also the son of Kenya’s first president, lost to Mr. Ruto in the August election.

“She probably means well, but it doesn’t come across well,” Ms. Amdany continued.

Ms. Ruto acknowledged that some of the criticism she received was “hurtful,” but said that she was doing the right thing by attempting to assist Kenya’s youth.

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