Prof Kithure Kindiki was, from the beginning, one of the very few of President William Ruto’s cabinet appointments I genuinely admired. I saw a man who would go about his task with quiet and thoughtful efficiency.
He seemed to stand out in a crowd dominated either by the typical Kenyan politician known only for irredeemable corruption and chest-thumping histrionics, or those clueless dullards plucked out from anonymity and suddenly over-excited about being chauffeur-driven in a ministerial limousine while waited on by an entire battalion of flunkies.
The good professor came across as fully committed to his public service job rather than the grandiosity and self-interest that rules in the corridors of power. One saw in him a dedicated official who actually took his job seriously, and who would could be depended upon to give the President truthful and accurate information and advice rather than the back-biting and sycophancy that prevails in the inner circle.
That he was entrusted with one of the most powerful and sensitive ministerial dockets said a lot about the trust the appointing authority had in him.
I’m now beginning to think Prof Kindiki should ask President Ruto to remove him from the Interior and Coordination of National Government ministry and give him ‘lighter duties’, to borrow the terminology coined by Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru when giving in to intense pressure and leaving then President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet in the wake of the National Youth Service heist.
It has been clear for a while now that the Interior CS is overwhelmed by the enormity of the national security docket.
The earlier confidence displayed in his vow to eradicate the banditry and cattle-rustling menace in the northern Rift Valley and terrorist occupation of the North Eastern and contiguous regions has been replaced by shrill pronouncements and threats which bear no semblance to reality on the ground.
His premature declaration of victory in the north rift after deployment of the military has turned out to have been a hollow boast.
Seemingly unable to make good on his pledges to solve the two key national security challenges as bandits resurface after lying low in the north while Al-Shabaab terrorists roam unchallenged in the east, Prof Kindiki has shifted his attentions to myriad issues such as alcoholism and road traffic carnage. But it has been mostly more bark than bite, with outrageous characterisation of almost every challenge as akin to terrorism and genocide.
Constant threats to apply anti-terrorism laws against almost any societal flaw indicate a desperate approach to issues that should be addressed with more brain than brawn; and a dangerous tilt towards dictatorship and imposition of a police state.
The most worrying signal was witnessed last week when the CS declared a ‘fatwa’ on anyone who heckled the President at public rallies.
Prof Kindiki is a legal scholar and surely has read and understood the Constitution of Kenya and all attendant statutes.
No doubt it is bad manners to heckle the President. But it is also bad manners to heckle any other person or to generally disrupt or cause disturbance at public gatherings.
Where there is need to enforce order at political rallies and other events, then laws must be applied equally to protect all who may be targeted by unruly goons, and not only the President.
Kenya is not one of those countries where there is a special set of laws in favour of the President, while all others are left to their own devices.
And Kenya is a democratic country where freedom of speech and expression is specifically protected by the Constitution. This is also a highly political state where anyone who enters the rough and tumble must be prepared for scrutiny and criticism. And heckling.
President Ruto, in any case, is not a sissy. He publicly goes for his political foes knowing full well that they will fire back. He has solid shock absorbers and I’m quite certain he has not gone to the CS crying for special protection.
Prof Kindiki must halt this business of illegal roadside declarations and refocus on the real challenges. If the serious national security threats are above his ken, he can at least look at some of the lesser challenges such as perpetual vows to dismantle traffic police ‘toll station’ cartels.
He might also want to pay attention to the fact the crackdown on bars driven by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has just provided another avenue for police extortion rackets. Legitimate investments are being hounded by crooked cops, but the illicit underground trade is still thriving.
