Meru and Tharaka residents plead for Kindiki's pardon

Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki. [File, Standard]

Residents of Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties are concerned about the fate of Kithure Kindiki after President William Ruto dismissed his Cabinet.

Prof Kindiki held the traditionally all-powerful Interior and National Government Administration docket.

Even though he was basking in some achievements in the reduction of cattle rustling and streamlining the Immigration department, he suffered the vagaries of collective responsibility as President Ruto bowed to pressure to reconfigure his administration.

Meru politicians who endorsed Kindiki as the region’s political spokesman are now uncertain of what the dismissal of the Cabinet means for the region’s political future.

Two days before the President sacked his Cabinet, Njuri Ncheke Council of Ameru elders had converged at their Nchiru shrine and pleaded with the Head of State to heed the demands of Gen Z protestors and also spare Kindiki in the imminent sacking.

Council chairperson Linus Kathera, secretary generals Josphat Murangiri (Operations), and Washington Muthamia (Programmes) led other elders to argue that Kindiki had not been mentioned in any irregularities in his ministry.

It was not the first time the elders voiced their support for the trained lawyer.

Indeed, it is the Njuri elders council that installed Kindiki as the Ameru community’s spokesman in 2015 at Kijege shrine in Tharaka, setting in motion his gradual rise as Tharaka Nithi senator to the time he was being considered as Ruto’s running mate in the run-up to the 2022 General Election.

In the aftermath of the Cabinet’s sacking, leaders and residents in the six subtribes of Meru in Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties are scratching their heads over what will become of Kindiki.

Former Meru County Chief of Staff Gideon Kimathi, who also served as Meru County Assembly Deputy Speaker between 2013 and 2017, is among leaders hoping it is not the end of the road for Kindiki and beseeching the President to retain him when he names a new Cabinet.

“He is a serious worker. He was given the Interior docket which was very challenging because of security issues and he has been committed and diligent," said Kimathi.