President William Ruto has nominated Prof. Kithure Kindiki as his deputy president following the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua by the Senate.

Prof. Kindiki is the current Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Interior and National Administration.

He will have to get the approval of the National Assembly (Members of Parliament) before he is confirmed as Kenya’s third deputy president.

But who is Prof. Kindiki?

The soft-spoken academic-cum-politician hails from Irunduni village, in Tharaka Constituency.

Prof. Kindiki, an advocate of the High Court and the International Criminal Court (ICC), obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Law (LLB) from Moi University and a Diploma in Legal Studies from the Kenya School of Law.

He also holds a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law & Democracy and a PhD in International Law, both from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Prof. Kindiki was a lecturer at the Moi University between 2000 and 2003. He also served as a Senior Lecturer and the Head of the Department of Public Law at the University of Nairobi between 2003 and 2005.

The alumni of Irunduni Primary School and Lenana High School rose to be an Associate Dean at the School of Law in the same institution.

The fifth born in a family of nine also served as the Secretary of National Cohesion in the Justice Ministry under President Mwai Kibaki. He would resign from the post after serving for only 100 days to resume his teaching career.

Prof. Kindiki was first elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017 as the senator for Tharaka Nithi County. He was the Senate Majority Leader during the 2013–2017 term and the Deputy Speaker of the Senate from August 2017 to 2020.

A distinguished scholar in International human rights law, Prof. Kindiki has consulted for local and international organisations including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) among others.

He is a member of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), the International Association on the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM), the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the International Commission of Jurists, Kenya Chapter (ICJ-K).

He rose to fame in 2012 after he defended William Ruto at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in crimes against humanity.