Charlene Ruto: Why I have been meeting with leaders in various counties

President William Ruto's daughter Charlene Ruto. [Source: Charlene Rut, Twitter]

President William Ruto's daughter, Charlene Ruto, has broken her silence amidst criticisms of her meetings and engagements with leaders in different counties.

The president's daughter hit the road running shortly after her father's swearing-in in September, and has been meeting leaders across the 47 counties, sparking conversations on her plan and the source of her funding.

In an interview with Digital media platforms on Saturday, Charlene revealed that she was working on her foundation, whose main objective is to amplify the voice of the youth.

She was speaking at Daystar University, Athi River Campus.

"A lot of Kenyans have been wondering what I am doing going around counties. What is it exactly? I am not asking anyone to give me a position anywhere. I don't need any position to do what am doing," Charlene said.

Then added, "That is why I decided to have my own initiative so that I can help the community and Kenyans and really be a voice for our youth... I believe there is a difference between leadership and politics. You can lead without a title in politics, that is why I have taken the path,"

Charlene has also dismissed claims that she was using public funds to move around the country saying, she has her own source of funding.

"Charlene Ruto Foundation has so many donors and sponsors who have come on board, Some are individuals who have come to me. A lot of people in business have also come to me and they have supported the Foundation. Even I have put my resources and my whole team. We are not using any government resources to do our activities,"

She has also revealed that The Charlene Ruto Foundation will be officially launched in early 2023. For now, she says, she is putting functional structures of her foundation in place.

Last week, a video of Charlene addressing the youth at the University of Nairobi drew a lot of criticism and brought up a conversation online.

In the video, she is heard telling the young people how she ran a smokie vending business when she was a student at Daystar University a few years back.

The audience in the video can be heard dismissing her confession, saying it was a lie.

"It is a true story, I used to sell smokies and kachumbari and I think my classmates and people I used to share a dorm with [can attest to this]," she said.

"It was a Youth forum on savings and investments, and I was trying to explain how I also survived on campus through business,"

According to her, being the daughter of a hustler has taught her many ways of making money too.

"The thing is that I am the daughter of the chief hustler, so I have seen his hustle and I have also hustled in my own way. I didn't go to any Britain or American system school. I went to Kenyan schools throughout. I was in Moi Girls Eldoret high school, came to Daystar University so I understand the challenges Kenyan youth go through because I was there myself and I could see them,"

Charlene has narrated that while on campus, she and two others ventured into the smokies vending business.

After some time they merged and ran the business jointly for about a year before they parted and ventured into other businesses.

"I had a roommate and a next-door friend. So the three of us decided to come up with that idea because we saw people really loved it. So I was doing it myself. I did it myself, my roommate Sylvia was doing it as well as my roommate Nyokabi," Charlene explained.

"[After some time} we joined forces and started selling the smokie kachumbari. We sold it for a year then we moved on to do other businesses. We outgrew the business,".

She says her parents are her biggest supporters in this project, they guide her as she updates them on the progress.

She plans to engage the youth on development issues which she says she will use to put the government in check.