A Decade of Excellence: Inside Kithure Kindiki's Political Career

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An undated image of Kithure Kindiki addressing the press.
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Kindiki Kithure

In the year 2010, Prof Abraham Kithure Kindiki - then a Dr Kithure Kindiki and a law lecturer at both Moi University and the University of Nairobi - made headlines after then Eldoret North Member of Parliament, William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto, appointed him alongside Katwa Kigen as his defence lawyer at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

At the time, Ruto was a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and was accused alongside six others as being the perpetrators of the 2007/2008 post election violence that left 1,300 people dead and over half a million others injured.

On November 4, 2010, Mr Kindiki - then a Dr Kithure Kindiki - became the first defence counsel of the six accused to detail the procedure and process that would be followed by the ICC in the prosecution.

Tharaka Nithi Senator Kindiki Kithure (left) with Deputy President William Ruto (right) after attending a conference in 2019
Tharaka Nithi Senator Kindiki Kithure (left) with Deputy President William Ruto (right) after attending a conference in 2019
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Mr Kindiki, who had arrived at the Hague two days earlier, held meetings with then ICC Prosecutor, Moreno Ocampo, where they agreed on the rules and procedures that would enable Mr Ruto tell the court what he knew about the violence that followed the December 2007 elections.

This was the turning point in Mr Kindiki’s life and the beginning of his political career.

In 2012, Mr Kindiki expressed interest in elective politics. Although in the early months of the year he had not made up his mind, he would later settle on the Senate seat. This was one of the three new positions that were created by the 2010 Constitution of Kenya.

He would later that year join then Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s The National Alliance (TNA) party which then teamed up with Mr William Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP) to form the Jubilee Alliance.

When the elections were held on March 4, 2013, Mr Kindiki would emerge victorious, becoming the county’s first Senator.

During his first term in the Senate, he would be occasionally be elected session Deputy Speaker and would on a number of times take charge of the House business in the absence of then Speaker, Ekwe Ethuro.

In 2017, Mr Kindiki was among the proponents of collapsing over 13 political parties to form the Jubilee Party, that would later go ahead and secure Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto a re-election. He would also defend his seat on the party’s ticket.

The ‘marriage of convenience’ between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto would come down crumbling after Mr Kenyatta teamed up with his archrival, Mr Raila Odinga in March 2018. At the time, Mr Odinga was the opposition leader, having led mass demonstrations and protests against Mr Kenyatta’s government.

DP William Ruto at the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya National Convention, at Nairobi Baptist Church, on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.
DP William Ruto at the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya National Convention, at Nairobi Baptist Church, on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.
DPPS

When the cracks between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto widened, Mr Kindiki joined Kenya's Deputy President faction. In Mr Ruto’s camp, he would become pivotal in the creation and running of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a party Mr Ruto’s is using in his stab at the presidency.

Mr Kindiki would also become the architect behind the Kenya Kwanza alliance foundation, drafting the deeds of agreement and all legal documents establishing the political coalition.

Early in the year, Mr Kindiki announced that he would not be defending his Tharaka Nithi senatorial seat, despite there being no fierce competition. He noted that he would concentrate on campaigning for Mr Ruto in his quest to become the country’s fifth President

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