After two years in office, President William Ruto now has a perfect Deputy President. A dependable assistant who does not take himself as a co-president.
His choice of the soft-spoken law don, Kithure Kindiki, in November last year filled a space that had been occupied by an abrasive and outspoken Rigathi Gachagua who has since been booted out.
And President Ruto should know. He was President Uhuru Kenyatta’s deputy for ten years, a stint he used to carve a name for himself and snatch the crown from his boss.
In the President’s scheme, Prof Kindiki is the perfect choice because of his political imperfections as the subservient loyal, a Mr Yes man walking on political eggshells and forever careful not to upset the apple cart or his appointing authority.
Unlike his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua who was opinionated, ambitious and never shied away from controversy on matters current affairs, Kindiki is Gachagua’s opposite. He takes his boss’ word for law and does not court controversy. He implements and defends his boss’s policy without questions.
Unlike Gachagua, Kindiki has no political base and has publicly declared that he is contented with his Deputy President position. He lacks clout and has no claim to a constituency as he was handpicked by Ruto.
In a recent meeting with a section of Meru leaders, Kindiki reaffirmed his speech during his swearing-in ceremony on November 1 last year when he told the President that he would remain loyal and faithful to him.
During his acceptance speech, he said:
“I want to commit to you, before this congregation and before the Almighty God, who is acknowledged in the Constitution, that I will serve under you and provide you with the assistance and support you require to take this country to the next level. I commit, I will be loyal and faithful.”
During the event, Kindiki disclosed that he has been Ruto’s political student for 20 years, saying;
“Nothing in the political space has helped me to pick up lessons more than the years that I have worked and served around you.” This probably explains why he follows Ruto blindly and without questions.
“Niliona wengine wananifundisha kazi. Ooh unajua unafaa kukaa hivi, deputy president anakaanga hivi. My friend, si ushugulike na kazi yako, when that time comes si mimi ni deputy president, mtihani yangu si ya rais, ni ya deputy president. I will pass with flying colours kwa hio level, cause kazi ya naibu wa rais ni kusaidia rais sio kupigana naye, that is not the job description. Hio ya kupigana na rais ni kazi ya opposition. Kama wewe ni deputy president kazi yako ni kusaidia rais kwa udi na uvumba, mchana na usiku, kama hutaki kumsaidia utoke, ujoin opposition,” Kindiki said while meeting Meru leaders on February 18.
He was responding to his critics, including his predecessor, who described him as a meek professional who “cannot ask a question or say anything”.
“He will be asked to sign an undated resignation letter so that if he starts asking questions he can be told to resign,” Gachagua said on October 24 when Ruto sent Kindiki’s name to the National Assembly for approval.
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President William Ruto congratulates Prof Kithure Kindiki after being sworn in as the Third Deputy President of Kenya at KICC on Friday November 01, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]
Gachagua still maintains that Kindiki can not question Ruto or defend the people because, unlike him who was elected alongside the President, the DP is an appointee who has no direct connection with the people.
“Unlike my successor, I was not answerable to Ruto because I was voted alongside him at the ballot. I was unable to defend most of Ruto’s policies because they were anti-people. I could not defend theft and corruption, I could not defend the housing programme and other programmes such as Adani and the Social Health Authority (SHA) because the people who were my bosses opposed them. Kindiki can’t do that because he is Ruto’s employee who must defend everything since he is answerable to his boss,” Gachagua said.
Before Kindiki’s appointment as Deputy President, his tenure as Interior Cabinet Secretary was marred with increased cases of police abductions and extra-judicial killings and grievous massacres in Shakahola and Kware where bodies were retrieved, concealed in sacks.
His response to police brutalities shocked human rights lobby groups and his fellow lawyers who wondered why a decorated lawyer with a background in human rights activism could defend the acts of police brutality.
Observers were equally surprised when he denied the existence of cases of extra-judicial killings during the Gen Z protests last year.
On September 26 last year, while appearing before the National Assembly National Administration and Internal Security Committee, Kindiki said no evidence showed that indeed police officers killed demonstrators.
“The fact that somebody has been shot is not conclusive evidence that they have been shot by a police officer. Maybe there is a presumption that that bullet belongs to a police officer,” he said.
Kindiki further claimed only 42 people lost their lives during the Gen Z protests and not 61, a number that had been given by the human rights organizations.
While justifying the excessive use of force by the police, Kindiki claimed there was an attempt to overthrow the government.
“Those people who were invading Parliament were not coming to stop the passing of the Finance Bill. They were coming to kill you. If police never used lethal force during the invasion of Parliament, we would never have Kenya like we have today,” Kindiki said.
As an ardent disciple of the President, Kindiki was only echoing Ruto’s words when he described the protestors as criminals who engaged in treasonous exercise and hailing the police for their “exemplary job” of containing violence.
“I want to congratulate our police officers for ensuring there is peace in the wake of protests and making sure offenders are dealt with to avoid destruction of property,” said Ruto.
What baffled human right defenders was the fact that Kindiki, a holder of Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights Law and Democracy from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, failed to take action against killer cops.
During a live TV show Citizen TV’s Mashirima Kapombe posed:
“So you have no say whatsoever when the police go wrong….as a Professor of Law?”
In his response, Kindiki explained that the National Police Service is protected by the mandate of the Inspector General of Police implying that the police operate independently as an autonomous unit.
Since he was appointed Cabinet Secretary, the soft-spoken Kindiki has never contradicted his boss. Neither did he wade into the differences between Ruto and Gachagua when others took sides.
His staunch support for Ruto cost Kindiki the National Assembly Deputy Speaker position during a purge by former President Uhuru Kenyatta after Ruto fell out with the former President in 2018.
After his ouster, Kindiki gave an impassioned speech in the Senate warning of the consequences of injustices, such as the one he believed was meted upon him and his colleagues ousted in the purge.
“I bow in shame to note that we are here today for such an elitist triviality, powered by petty, divisive and vindictive politics,” Kindiki said then.
“It does not bother me at all that the die is cast against me. What bothers me is that the Constitution of our country is once again indecently assaulted in full glare,” Kindiki added.
But despite his discipleship to the President, analysts argue that Kindiki’s stature and approach to power may see him tossed out by Ruto, especially in 2027, with minimal political fall out as he does not have a constituency.
“He is Ruto’s creation and he could be dismantled politically by the President at his own will and you will not see leaders and his community rise up against Ruto. Gachagua, fully aware that power is grabbed, started establishing his constituency by rallying his community and this did not sit well with Ruto as he wanted him to remain Mt Kenya’s kingpin,” Kamau Wairuri, a policy researcher and political analyst opined.
Dr Wairuri noted that although Kindiki has vast experience in public policy and giving legal advice at various levels, he needed to separate the fields of academia and politics.
