NAIROBI, Kenya
The softly spoken Kithure Kindiki is due to be sworn in as Kenya's new deputy president on Friday, after senators ousted Rigathi Gachagua in a dramatic series of impeachment votes a fortnight ago.
A legal attempt by Gachagua to
delay the swearing-in ceremony failed on Thursday.
Kindiki, a 52-year-old former
law professor, has been serving as President William Ruto’s interior minister
for the last two years.
The president hopes that
Kindiki's accession will put to an end a febrile chapter in Kenya's political
history.
Kindiki was the face of the
government in the aftermath of the police’s deadly crackdown on recent anti-tax
protests.
In charge of the security
services, he oversaw the response to the wave
of protests that began in June.
More than 40 people died in
clashes with the police and at least 300 others were wounded, but Kindiki
lauded the officers for exercising "restraint" while enforcing law
and order. He also denied any shoot-to-kill orders were issued.
His stance was met by public
anger, with rights groups demanding justice for victims as well as individuals
abducted under mysterious circumstances.
In his response to the
demonstrations, Kindiki burnished his credentials as a supporter of the
president and survived a cull of ministers.
This was not a surprise as he
had long been a close ally of the president, having served as his lawyer more
than a decade ago during a case before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Ruto, then an MP, had been
accused of crimes against humanity over the violence that followed the 2007
election in which more than 1,200 people died.
The case was eventually
dropped because of insufficient evidence, but prosecutors argued that witnesses
had been intimidated.
Kindiki is, like Gachagua,
from the Mount Kenya region and will be able to shore up the president’s
support in that area in the wake of the impeachment.
Always smartly dressed with a
neat close-cropped haircut, the father-of-two honed his deliberative style of
speaking in the courts, but he also worked in academia.
With a master’s degree and a
PhD from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, he has authored more than
30 publications - including books and articles in academic peer-reviewed
journals, both locally and internationally.
He has vast experience in
public policy, governance, public administration, law-making, constitutional
affairs and giving legal advice at various levels.
He began his political career
in March 2013 when he was elected senator for Tharaka-Nithi county and served
as the Senate majority leader for five years.
Re-elected in 2017, he went on
to serve as the chamber’s deputy speaker until 2020 when he was sacked in a
purge of Ruto's allies.
When Ruto won the 2022
presidential election, he appointed Kindiki to his first cabinet.
Since then, he has represented
the authorities during traumatic incidents.
Last year, hundreds of bodies
of people who had starved to death were uncovered in a remote forest. It is
alleged that self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie had encouraged them to stop
eating. Currently on trial, he denies the charges.
In the wake of the grim
discovery of the bodies, Kindiki was on site and describing
the incident as a "massacre".
Last month, he was at a
school where 17 pupils had died after a dormitory fire. The
minister promised "full accountability for all whose action or inaction
contributed to this tremendous loss".
In 2022, there were some who
thought Kindiki would be named as Ruto’s deputy, but Gachagua clinched the
position as he brought with him considerable influence and wealth.
Ruto later said that he
"missed the chance to be deputy president by a whisker".
Kindiki is likely to prove a
more loyal deputy than Gachagua and will toe the line.
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