Will Kithure Kindiki's triumph over politics?

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki arrives at the Sir Sereste Khama International Airport, Gaborone, Botswana ahead of the swearing in and inauguration ceremony of Duma Gideon Boko as the 6th President of the Republic of Botswana on Nov 7, 2024. [DPCS]

There are only 32 months to make an impression. The world is waiting to see whether soft spoken law don Kithure Kindiki will conquer politics and triumph where two professors, one of mathematics and another of history have faltered in the past.

Before Prof Kindiki crossed over to Harambee Annex last week, he had been preceded by two professors, George Saitoti and Josephat Karanja.

Saitoti’s mathematical formula to State House was miscalculated, blowing out his tenancy at the Number Two slot he had occupied for 13 months.

History taught the late Karanja that politics was a different ball game from the subject he had mastered up to the doctorate level. He lasted for just one year before “common decency was thrown out of the window” and replaced with political thuggery that spat him out of power.

Before these dons, there were teachers Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Daniel Arap Moi who left useful lessons for ardent learners like economist Mwai Kibaki and botanist William Ruto to win the ultimate prize; the presidency.

Kenya’s history is littered with lessons for vice presidents and deputy presidents on how to unite the country and keep it on trail.

There are lessons too on how not to lead a nation, as over ambitious deputies have been shown the door either by the people or by their bosses long before they could ascend to the presidency.

Crossing Uhuru Kenyatta

Today, Kindiki is out of the country, for the first time in two years, to represent his boss at the swearing-in ceremony of Botswana President Duma Boko.

If Kindiki had any doubt that his sacking as the Senate Deputy Speaker on May 22, 2020 for crossing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s path was a mistake or political mischief, he has now been given an opportunity to revise his thoughts. This is because he is a beneficiary of a purge that ended with the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua who flew too close to the sun and mistook his boss for an equal.

Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata, who was then Senate Majority Whip, moved an ouster motion against Kindiki as Deputy Speaker, saying his failure to attend a Jubilee Party Parliamentary Group meeting contradicted Uhuru’s agenda. He was among Ruto allies who were accused of undermining the then President.

Apart from the lessons he learnt then that fidelity, loyalty and faithfulness to the powers that be are a manual guide in the political world, Kindiki also has an advantage of learning from the immediate DP who was also shown the door after what MPs described as undermining and sabotaging his boss.

Prof Kithure Kindiki displays the oath of office after he was sworn in as the third Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya on Nov 1, 2024. [PCS]

The professors before him, Saioti and Karanja, found themselves on the edge when they outlived their usefulness to their bosses while other vice Presidents Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moody Awori’s political careers were cut short by their electorate, albeit temporarily, after they were voted out, taking from them the much needed political clout that they would have used to vie for the presidency.

Karanja, who was touted as a stop gap vice president and was picked to replace Kibaki in 1988, had served two years as Mathare MP just like Gachagua who was dropped after serving for two years as DP.

Karanja was considered a novice in politics as he did not have a solid base and following.

“It can be argued that Moi singled Karanja out because he would be easy to shake off when the time came. Karanja did not have a solid base and following. This too could be argued to be the case with Kindiki and this puts him in a tricky political situation especially when it comes to his future ambitions,” Kamau Wairuri, a political scientist and a policy-oriented researcher, opined.

Dr Kamau thinks Kindiki, like Karanja, is a no-nonsense leader and administrator considering his performance as the Interior Cabinet Secretary. Kamau maintains that the Deputy President has work to do to secure his place in 2027.

But the human rights law professor with experience in teaching, has a head start and the requisite political experience, having served as a senator for two terms. His two-year stint as Cabinet Secretary provided him with invaluable lessons of the inner workings of government.

His temperament, depicting him as humble, calm and collected unlike his predecessor who was abrasive, raucous and loud, endears him to peers and Kenyans at large.

He also appears to have been well received across the country, with even MPs who voted against Gachagua’s impeachment voting to endorse him in the National Assembly. Some have said they see him as a safe pair of hands being a heartbeat away from the presidency than they viewed Gachagua.

In the restive Mt Kenya, following a divisive impeachment of his predecessor, Kindiki will have to work harder to win over the region and gain their confidence as a unifier.

He will have to burn the midnight oil to repair the image of the office as serving all Kenyans while at the same time representing the interests of the Mt Kenya region that voted overwhelmingly for Kenya Kwanza and President Ruto.

Political analyst Herman Manyora says, having taken a job that fell vacant after Gachagua was sacked for defending his region, Kindiki’s option is to represent Ruto and his policies without minding about the Kenyans’ welfare.

“His job is simple. Don’t defend your people, don’t question the taxation regime, just support and defend it. Probably in the future, should he develop presidential ambitions, he may tell people that he was just a deputy who had no say,” Manyora said.

Fred Mutembei, a political analyst from Meru, believes Kindiki’s political future will be designed by how he will be able to relate with the electorate from Mt Kenya East, and Mt Kenya West from where Gachagua hails. This is a tough balancing act which requires tact so that it is not interpreted to mean that he could be trying to compete with his boss.

President William Ruto shakes hands with Deputy President Kithure Kindiki he departed for Juba, South Sudan for an official visit on Nov 6, 2024. [DPCS]

Fiercely loyal

“The jinx in the position of the Deputy President, and to a larger extent deputy governor, has been fueled by over ambitiousness of the second in command. But in Kindiki’s situation, given that he was not elected but handpicked, he will have to work extra hard for him to be known by the electorate, manage the expectations of MPs who elected him, and fulfill his boss’ expectations if he will need to vie for presidency. As it is he may not want to go for a lower seat,” Mutembei noted.

Saitoti, Kenya’s longest serving VP, was also fiercely loyal to Moi. But he was thrown under  the bus when the President refused to name him as his preferred successor and told him he was not a presidential material.

During the KANU National Delegates Conference in Kasarani in 2002, the party changed its constitution to allow for a merger with Raila’s National Development Party (NDP), and also created four new vice chairman positions.

This effectively watered down Saitoti’s position and, consequently wiped out his chances of succeeding Moi. Following his vocal complaint to the President that his name was missing from the leaders’ line-up, Moi told him that he was not “presidential material”.

In response to the snub, Saitoti famously told the conference: “There comes a time when the nation is much more important than an individual.”

The height of his ‘humiliation’ came during a meeting in his own constituency, where Moi explained his reasons for overlooking the VP in his succession plans. Speaking in Kiswahili, the then President said:

“Huyu makamu wa rais ni rafiki yangu. Lakini urafiki na siasa ni tofauti.” (The Vice President is my friend. But politics and friendship are different).