Kindiki: Soft spoken scholar gets 'tough' post that needs grit

Kithure kindiki has been nominated to the ministry of Interior and Administration of National Government as Cabinet Secretary. [Jenipher Wachie, Standard] Prof Kithure Kindiki, 50, the soft-spoken son of a Methodist Church minister will forever be remembered as the politician who missed being the running mate of President William Ruto by a whisker. But Prof Kindiki has not fully lost as he was nominated to the docket of Interior and Administration of National Government as Cabinet Secretary. Elected in the 2013 election to represent Tharaka-Nithi in the Senate, he had been known for his work at Moi University as a legal scholar. Prof Kindiki burst into the national limelight when he was named as one of the lawyers to represent President Uhuru Kenyatta and then Deputy President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court. After the 2013 elections, he who was picked as Senate Majority Leader and remained a relatively non-controversial politician for most of his term. In the second term, Jubilee Party dropped him from the Majority Leader position and sent him to the Deputy Speaker's office. Kindiki continued to work for Jubilee until 2020 when he and other Ruto allies were removed from their leadership positions in Parliament. He had expressed his desire to go for the Tharaka Nithi governor's position but dropped his ambitions. But after emerging a favourite of Mt Kenya parliamentary allies of Ruto, he was yet again overlooked and Rigathi Gachagua was picked as the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate's running mate. Kindiki did not attend the ceremony for the unveiling of the running mate but emerged days later and said he was considering retiring after helping Ruto with the 2022 campaigns. That things were looking up for him emerged when his signature appeared on the documents of the pre-election political pact signed between Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang'ula. The Interior Ministry is one of the difficult dockets to handle and it will be interesting to see how he manages the police service and the National Government Administration Office (Ngao) which the Ruto camp castigated in the run-up to the August 9 elections. There is also banditry, cattle rustling, and extra-judicial killings among other recurrent security issues he will have to deal with. Before joining politics, Kindiki had been a law lecturer at Moi and Nairobi universities. He started his teaching career in 1999 at Moi University. In 2004, he joined the University of Nairobi where he served until 2005 when he returned to Moi University.

Kindiki: Soft spoken scholar gets 'tough' post that needs grit

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