Dr Joyce Kithure (right), Kenya’s new Second Lady.
There are handshakes, then there are the demure handshakes a bespectacled woman in white was filmed exchanging with various dignitaries ahead of the swearing-in of Prof Kithure Kindiki as the Deputy President on Friday.
Dr Joyce Gatiria Njagi-Kithure, Prof Kindiki’s wife, has for years maintained a low profile as her husband rose through the ranks in politics and the Cabinet, but on Friday November 1 she was thrust into the limelight during the swearing-in of Kenya’s third deputy president.
As she shook hands, she instinctively propped her left hand to support the right one as she greeted a senior security official. The same gesture was repeated at the podium at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre as Dr Kithure shook hands with President William Ruto and his wife, First Lady Rachel Ruto.
She perhaps picked the body language that learners deploy when greeting their teachers. Dr Kithure taught in at least five secondary schools, and so she should know. Besides, her days as a student at Mikinduri Girls Secondary School in Meru County between 1991 and 1994 must have taught her a thing or two about greeting one’s superiors.
One stark coincidence is that both Dr Kithure and the wife of impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua were trained as teachers in university. Dr Kithure, currently a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi (UoN), was trained as a chemistry and mathematics teacher at Moi University while Mrs Rigathi was trained as a history and CRE teacher at Kenyatta University.
Unlike Mrs Rigathi who went into banking after university, Dr Kithure remained in the education field. By the time she graduated in December 2000, she had taught at Gaciongo Secondary School in Kirinyaga, Chemuswa Secondary School in Nandi (for teaching practice), Kiptewit Secondary School in Kericho and Kithayooni Secondary School in Machakos.
Dr Kithure, like her predecessor, is a spiritual person. At the burial of her father earlier this year, she added the phrase “I am saved, nampenda Mungu (I love God)” after her name before introducing herself as the firstborn in their family.
One common strand in her story with that of her husband is that both got their undergraduate degrees from Moi University. She left Moi in 2000 while Prof Kindiki left the Eldoret-based institution in 1998 with a law degree. Another strand is that both have been lecturers at UoN.
A professional in her own right
Dr Joyce Kithure (right), Kenya’s new Second Lady.
The two have three children together — Imani, Neema, and Mwende. In his speech after being sworn-in, Prof Kindiki commended Dr Kithure for the sacrifices she made to raise their children as he was away serving the nation.
“(She is) a professional in her own right who has sacrificed to raise our three children,” he said.
“Many, many days and nights of my absence as I served the country in different roles, I am very grateful to my wife and the children for being the foundation and providing the support that I have always required as I navigate this difficult space of public service.”
From Dr Kithure’s profile, it is clear that the lecturer in the university’s Department of Chemistry under the Faculty of Science and Technology has a very strong bond with chemistry.
She obtained her Master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry from Kenyatta University in 2007 and a PhD in Environmental Chemistry from University of Nairobi in 2013. One interesting training she has recently attended is that of Chinese language at the UoN, and so in her CV she says the languages she understands are “English, Swahili, Tharaka, and some basic Chinese”.
At UoN, Dr Kithure has trained and supervised more than 21 postgraduate students, and she has held a number of leadership roles at the university, which include being a member of the Postgraduate and Seminar Committee, a member of the Departmental Committee on Corruption Prevention, Cohesion and National Values, a member of the Departmental Committee in Timetabling, among others.
Scientific publications
In line with being a scholar, Dr Kithure has been awarded hefty grants to conduct research. For instance, in 2010 she was awarded a $12,000 research grant (Sh1.5 million in today’s rates) by the International Foundation for Science to pursue her PhD thesis whose title was: “Distribution of Chlorpyrifos and Some Organochlorine Pesticides Residues in the Upper Tana River Catchment”.
One of the interesting publications she has co-written include a 2021 one titled “Canning Food Processes May Be a Source of Threat to the Consumer”.
Another one she co-wrote in 2020 was titled, “The Effectiveness of the Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plants in Kenya”.
In 2019, she was involved in another publication titled “Characterisation and Adsorption of Heavy Metals in Industrial Effluent from Paint and Coating Industries in Nairobi, Kenya”.
She also has at least three textbooks in the market. One of them is a 2022 book titled Statistics for Chemists, done in the question-and-answer format.
Now, Dr Kithure has been thrown into the rough and tumble of national politics and scrutiny. While little has been known about her personal life, she now sits on a much-watched pedestal. Though she takes up an office without funding (it was stopped by President Ruto due to demands from protesters opposed to the Finance Bill 2024), eyes will be on her to see if she will take up projects across the country and have a media team to let the world know what she is up to, like her predecessors have been doing.
