Kithure Kindiki: The man set to take over from Gachagua as deputy president

Professor Kithure Kindiki arguably ranks amongst some of the respected lawyers in the country and is a high-ranking politician, having served as Deputy Speaker of the Senate.

He has been serving as Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Interior and National Administration since September 2022.

Before that appointment, the career lawyer had spent a decade in active politics, serving as Tharaka-Nithi senator for two consecutive terms from 2013 to 2022.

During the period, he also served as the Senate Majority Leader during the first term, and Deputy Speaker in the second term, between August 2017 to 2020.

Before then, the soft-spoken advocate of the High Court and the International Criminal Court (ICC) ran his private practice and consulted for local and international organisations including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) among others.

He is a member of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), the International Association on the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM), the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the International Commission of Jurists, Kenya Chapter (ICJ-K).

Earlier in his career, Prof Kindiki was a lecturer at Moi University.

Senior lecturer

He also served as a senior lecturer and the head of the Department of Public Law at the University of Nairobi where he rose to become an Associate Dean at the School of Law.

He also served as the Secretary of National Cohesion under former President Mwai Kibaki.

Prof Kindiki holds a master's degree in International Human Rights Law & Democracy and a PhD in International Law, both from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

He also obtained a Bachelor's degree in Law (LLB) from Moi University and a Diploma in Legal Studies from the Kenya School of Law.

Kindiki has enjoyed President William Ruto's support, having been part of his defence team at the International Criminal Court (ICC) where his client was facing crimes against humanity charges.

In the run-up to the 2022 elections, the professor of law was poised to be Ruto’s running mate until May 2022 when the President, in a press conference, declared Gachagua as his choice.

Impeached

On Thursday night, however, Gachagua became the first DP in the country to be impeached, following claims of gross violation of the Constitution, undermining the President, undermining devolution, irregular acquisition of wealth, publicly attacking a judge, intimidating acting KEMSA CEO, promoting ethnicity and insubordination to the President among others.

Gachagua was impeached after a majority of senators voted for his removal from office after a gruelling two-day marathon hearing of the case levelled against him.

The law states that within 14 days after a vacancy in the office of the deputy president arises, the President shall nominate a person to fill the vacancy, and the National Assembly shall vote on the nomination within 60 days of receiving it.

On Friday morning President Ruto picked Prof Kindiki as his nominee for the position, setting the stage for the National Assembly to make a vote.

The law states that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) shall then declare the candidate nominated by the person who is elected as the President to be elected as the deputy president.

The name shall then be tabled in Parliament and once approved by a majority of the members, the DP shall be sworn in before the Chief Justice and in public.