President William Ruto hands over the Constitution of Kenya to Deputy President Kithure Kindiki following Kindiki's swearing-in at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi on November 1, 2024.
While the elevation of Kithure Kindiki, 52, to Deputy President has a feel-good factor among his supporters, the burden he is expected to carry is likely to make this an unenviable job.
Prof Kindiki was picked by President William Ruto to replace Mr Rigathi Gachagua, who is fighting his impeachment in court.
From the get-go, President Ruto — whose critics have always pointed out is a one-man show – said that for two years he was a lonely voice at the top and expected Prof Kindiki to now step in. How to navigate a President considered hands-on in his style and defend controversial big-ticket Kenya Kwanza projects will be an immediate headache as the Ruto administration faces pressure from all sides.
"Jubilee Party Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni says Kindiki comes into office at an unenviable time when President Ruto's rule is hiding from serious scrutiny about over taxation, unpopular policies like affordable housing levy, encroachment of citizens' privacy through unorthodox spying methods and high cost of living among others.
"Is Kindiki a good man? Yes, he is. Is he the best man to cleanse President Ruto's tainted government? Of course, he is not. Will he manage the mission impossible of endearing the government to Kenyans? It is for him to redeem himself," Mr Kioni said.
President Ruto in welcoming Prof Kindiki as his principal assistant blamed impeached Gachagua for the government's woes. The president lamented that Mr Gachagua did not attempt to help him serve Kenyans, making him a lonely voice at the apex of his rule.
Dr Ruto said he had almost become a lonely voice in the presidency in laying out his government's development agenda to the nation for lack of a reliable principal assistant.
"I am confident you will do that what I have missed in the last two years," Ruto told his new deputy.
He praised Kindiki as a "patriot whose dedication to cohesion, national unity and inclusivity is beyond reproach".
In his acceptance speech Kindiki said he "will be loyal and faithful to you (Ruto)," This pledge has made pundits like Kirinyaga Jubilee Chairman Muriithi Kang'ara fear "he is a ‘Yes Sir’ appointee who comes into the presidency as a political flower girl".
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology don Charles Mwangi immediately picked issue with Mr Kindiki's speech saying "it is not clear to him that he has been sworn-in to serve the Constitution and not an individual called Ruto".
Mr Mwangi said Prof Kindiki's problems will get well defined within the first three months of his new office.
"We are in the process of coming up with a new Finance Bill 2025 and the memories of how it ended up being in the nightmarish Finance Bill 2024 are still fresh in our minds after Gen Z protested and in turn an unpopular vicious crackdown against them is still ongoing," he said.
Mr Calvin Otieno of the Bunge la Mwananchi on Saturday told Nation.Africa that President Ruto has had many negative achievements in the two years he has been president.
"If it is Kindiki who has been brought on board to launder blatant cases of appointments driven by nepotism in government positions, to make us favourably see the controversial Adani deals (on the airport and power distribution), to make us love the complicated university and national health funding models, then I wouldn't love to be Kindiki, jobless as I am," he said.
The government is currently under litigation about Adani deals that will see the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport leased out for 30 years in a Sh238 billion pact.
Another long-term Adani deal in the energy sector seeks to give the Indian conglomerate a Sh95 billion Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) deal.
For healthcare, an Adani-linked company is involved in the Sh104.8 billion Social Health Insurance Fund system.
"Prof Kindiki does not strike me as someone with regime legitimacy. The hurry in which he was named, approved and installed depicts a perception of illegitimacy. He will have to work hard to win over consensus opinion that he was elevated for common good," said Safina Party Deputy Leader Willis Otieno.
Gladys Njoroge, the National Congress' youth leader, said that as the former Interior Cabinet Secretary, Prof Kindiki is faced with another burden of explaining rising cases of abductions, enforced disappearances, escalating cases of femicide, extrajudicial killings and crackdowns on civil society and cultural groupings.
President Ruto and his allies threw Gachagua under the bus over allegations of being a divisive figure only interested in pushing the Mt Kenya agenda against national interests. They also raised integrity questions in an impeachment that the former Deputy President has challenged in court.
In comes Prof Kindiki, who the president expects to be the direct opposite and also walk the extra mile of helping the Kenya Kwanza regime win eroded public trust.
Former Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi captured the Kindiki dilemma thus: "If the president came my way expressing a desire to have me replace Gachagua, I would have politely bargained to be considered for the vacant Interior CS position (and not Deputy President)".
Mr Ngugi added that Gachagua's impeachment has eroded Mt Kenya's goodwill towards President Ruto to the barest minimum, putting an extra burden on Prof Kindiki who is expected to win back the bloc.
On October 30, 2024 Gachagua, while speaking in Kiambu County, deftly set up his successor in the public court.
"We in Mt Kenya want killer brews, which started creeping back when my woes started, dealt with...Coffee, tea, dairy and avocado sector reforms must be completed to put money in farmers’ pockets," Mr Gachagua said.
These being part of Prof Kindiki's headache now, Mr Gachagua added that "stalled projects like the Mau Mau road must be completed; inhumane evictions for both squatters and traders stopped; health care, education funding and the competency-based curriculum education system given a sane face".
On Friday, November 1, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi said "Those of us who know President Ruto and identify with his progressive mind of governance know that had he assumed office with Kindiki as his deputy, most of the problems that the country faces would not have arisen".
"Mr Gachagua made it obvious that he did not want President Ruto to succeed and was focussed on 2027 succession instead of first working to deliver on pre-election pledges".
He said that since the “saboteur” has fallen and a “loyal servant of the people” sworn in, work will now be fast-tracked.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said Kindiki will be expected to recover the two years lost.
"This is a new dawn in the country's leadership, we will now succeed...We have had a tumultuous two years and there are moments that Kenyans have accused us of having taking our eye off the ball," Mr Mudavadi said adding that "in Kindiki's hands we are safe".
But Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu thinks things will not sail as smoothly as predicted.
"Kindiki is no doubt a nice man who is being used to fight the wrong battles in the pretext of uniting Kenyans," he said.
"Kindiki comes in as cover for serious flaws in the government. The more the leaders attempt to blame Gachagua, the more Kenyans read through the lies".
Mr Nyutu said all those who love Prof Kindiki must tell him that his greatest test is how he first unites Mt Kenya to favour Ruto's second term bid in 2027 and if he fails he too will be discarded as running mate.
United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary-General Hassan Omar defended Prof Kindiki, saying he should first be given time to prove himself instead of rating him even before he has worked for a day.
"We have a new deputy president, and he is going to work and deliver on the Kenya Kwanza manifesto and the promises we made to the Kenyan citizens," he said.
Githunguri MP Gathoni wa Muchomba said, however, that the "one man, one vote, one shilling formula remains the priority demand by Mt Kenya residents".
Prof Kindiki has since criticised the formula as untested, divisive and discriminatory. This is likely to put him on a collision course with a region he hopes to win over against an aggressive push by Mr Gachagua and his allies.
Kajiado North MP Onesmus Ngogoyo said the Mt Kenya region — including Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi — will be difficult to consolidate to support President Ruto’s re-election.
"He is also expected to win support for UDA in a region that is shopping for its own special purpose vehicle, help the President and the ruling party conduct grassroots elections that were abandoned as the Mountain became more restless, consolidate Mt Kenya as the kingpin to be relevant in 2027 and beyond, as well as make the government shed off the ‘lying’ image," he said.
