- "Last year Mr President you mentioned that I earn more than your salary, I think this year you will overtake me because you have a Facebook page, all you need to do is monetise it."
- The comedian on a light note noted that the president would make 'some good money after tax' if he followed his advice.
Image: FILE
Comedian and content creator Eddie Butita has jokingly advised President William Ruto to monetise his Facebook page so that he can earn more money.
Speaking at State House during the president's meeting with the Facebook Management Team on monetisation, Butita said," Last year Mr President you mentioned that I earn more than your salary, I think this year you will overtake me because you have a Facebook page, all you need to do is monetise it."
The comedian on a light note noted that the president would make 'some good money after tax' if he followed his advice.
Butita was reacting to statements made by Ruto in 2023 that claimed Butita was paid more as a content creator than he was being paid as a president.
The president made the statements during the Kenya National Drama Festival held at State House, Nairobi in June 2023 where he commended Butita and fellow content creator Njugush saying they are great artists worthy to be emulated.
"These are our great artists who today are monetising their content. Pongezi sana (congratulations) gentlemen. Those two young men you see there, they are making more money than my salary,” Ruto had said.
He added; "Those guys are serious entrepreneurs. Congratulations on trailblazing. Congratulations for being the example to many of our young people and knowing that the creatives space, the YouTube space is available for jobs for our young people."
In his address, Butita also asked the president to make plans with Meta to organise workshops and training sessions for Kenyan content creators to take advantage of tools provided by Meta for monetisation.
During the talks, the Meta team revealed that by June, Kenyan creators will be able to monetise their content.
Ruto on his part, said that social platforms under the Meta brand (Facebook and Instagram) will start paying Kenyan digital creators through M-Pesa.
The president said once the eligibility program is rolled out in the next few weeks, the creators will start receiving their pay via the mobile money platform.
"I'm very happy that the monetisation is also going to be on M-Pesa. I think many people have been wondering how we do this because not many of our content creators have credit cards or other instruments, but I was very happy to hear that the team from Meta has already carried out experiments and that it works," Ruto said.