Kenya has had a history of having Professors as Deputy Presidents.
Topping the list is Prof. Josephat Karanja who deputized the late President Moi between 1988 and 1989 but fell out of favour from his boss over alleged insubordination.
Karanja received a PhD in history from Princeton University in 1962 and served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi from 1970 to 1979.
Second, Professor George Saitoti was drawn from University to take the second highest position in the country from 1988 until 2002 under President Moi.
He came back to the government in the President Kibaki era as Minister for Internal Security before passing on in an aircraft accident in Kibiku, Ngong’ on June 10, 2012.
Now, with the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Thursday, October 17, 2024, Professor Kithure Kindiki has been nominated by President William Ruto to replace him, pending approval by the Parliament.
Prof. Kindiki, born in 1972 in Tharaka Nithi, went to Lenana School for his ‘A’ Level education but failed to attain direct entry to the university to pursue Law as he wanted.
He chose to take another stab at the final exam, enrolling at Tharaka High School where he repeated and qualified to join Moi University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from Moi University in 1988.
In 2000, he obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights Law and Democracy from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He also attended the Advocates’ Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies at the Kenya School of Law in 2001, to qualify as an advocate. In 2002, he graduated with a PhD in International Law from the University of Pretoria.
In 1999, he began working as a Law Lecturer at Moi University. He started working at the University of Nairobi in 2004 and remained there until 2005 when he returned to Moi University to lead the Public Law department.
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He later crossed over to politics and was elected as a Senator for Tharaka Nithi county in 2013 and became the Senate’s Majority Leader until 2017, before regaining the seat in the 2017 elections and being elected the Senate’s Deputy Speaker until 2022.
In 2023, Prof. Kindiki was appointed to serve as the Minister of Interior. He was dismissed from the cabinet on July 11, 2024 after anti-government protests, but was reappointed on July 19, 2024, as the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Administration of National Government.
Now, Kenyans are eager to see the Deputy President-elect utilize his expertise in making a mark as the second in command like his predecessors.
By Enock Okong’o
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