President William Ruto's daughter, Charlene Ruto, has clapped back at Kenyans on Kenyans on Twitter, popularly known as KOT, after being trolled on the micro-blogging site for the better part of the weekend.
KoT, known for their penchant for harsh attacks, nicknamed the third-born daughter of the Head of State "Quickmart Ivanka" after she captured the nation’s attention with a series of highly publicised public engagements in recent weeks.
The netizens compared Charlene to Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former US President Donald Trump, who faced a similar online onslaught over engagement in high-profile public events before the father appointed her to an official government role.
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They added "Quickmart" to the name, saying the retail chain has a tendency of "popping out everywhere".
But Charlene on Monday night laughed off the moniker "Quickmart Ivanka" and vowed to push on "to achieve the plan".
"Fresh and easy does it. We move regardless. Where are we popping up next? 🤣. #Onward #AchievingThePlan," she captioned a photo of her shopping at a Quickmart outlet.
Fresh and easy does it. We move regardless ☺️. Where are we popping up next? 🤣. #Onward #AchievingThePlan pic.twitter.com/uZmis6Wz3A— Charlene Ruto (@charlruto) November 28, 2022
In the months since her father was elected president, Charlene has met several county officials across the country.
The events, local and abroad, have generated debate on social media about the role of the first daughter, considering that the children of the past four presidents rarely operated in the public limelight.
On Thursday, November 24, the First daughter continued with her whirlwind tours of counties by meeting Narok county officials, including governor Patrick Ole Ntutu.
Speaking after the meeting Charlene conveyed her father’s message that calls on all citizens to own up tree-growing initiatives and plant 300 trees each in their respective farms in the next 5 years.
She said she is on a mission to urge Kenyans to be part of the solutions to the dangerous levels of climate change which can be achieved through tree planting.
Apart from tree planting Charlene, who is a Director at the Weston Hotel on Lang’ata Road, said she is on a tour of counties to hold talks with leaders and Kenyans centred on tourism, agriculture, and youth empowerment.
“For example, tree planting can be one source of creating employment among the youths who can be given the mandate to manage tree nurseries and let them sell seedlings to Kenyans,” Charlene said after she participated in a tree planting exercise at the Narok county headquarters.
“We want to help the President and the whole world to tackle climate change and all issues that impact negatively on people's livelihood and the economy through our campaign."
To realize the required tree cover, she called on county governments to take tree planting seriously. She reiterated President Ruto's call of planting 15 million trees in 10 years in their regions and especially by including tree planting in school programs.
Recently, the President said tree planting will save the country from the adverse effects of climate change. He said the move is in line with the goal of planting five million trees in the next five years.
Charlene recently held a meeting with Morocco’s Youth minister, Mohammed Mehdi. After the meeting, she wrote, “conversation and exchange of ideas that will go a long way in shaping youth development projects for both nations”.
She has also met senior officials in Isiolo, Embu, Tharaka Nithi, Kirinyaga and Nairobi counties.
