Irony of Ruto's 'two envoys, one station' amid push for austerity

Nominated MP Halima Mucheke addressing the media at Parliament on July 1, 2019. [Boniface Okendo,Standard]

Despite ascending to power on the promise of reducing wasteful public spending, President William Ruto has adopted former President Uhuru Kenyatta's peculiar policy of deploying "two envoys, one station" to accommodate allies.

In the sunset days of his administration, President Kenyatta appointed six deputy ambassadors. Ruto, in his first diplomatic appointments, increased them to 14 with full status of ambassadors at Job Group T.