Kithure Kindiki sworn in as Kenya’s new vice president

The former Minister of the Interior of Kenya, Kithure Kindiki, has been sworn in as the country’s new vice president after Rigathi Gachagua, who was removed from office after failing to testify in an impeachment trial, challenged the appointment.

“I am grateful, Mr. President (William) Ruto. I promise you, before this congregation and before God, that I will not let you down,” Kindiki said this Friday at the oath of office ceremony at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC), in Nairobi, attended by the president, Ruto, and the president of the Supreme Court, Martha Koome, among others, according to the newspaper ‘Nation’.

The until now Minister of the Interior has highlighted the figure of Ruto, who has been a reference for him: “I have been his political student for almost 20 years, and nothing in the political space has helped me take the lessons more than the years that I have worked and served around you. “Therefore, I am grateful for the honor he has given me,” he concluded.

For his part, the Kenyan president has highlighted the figure of the new vice president: “Kindiki is a patriot whose dedication to cohesion, national unity and inclusion is beyond reproach.”

“I have become almost a solitary voice in the Executive. I am sure that you will do what I have not done during the last two years,” the president stated, as reported by the aforementioned newspaper.

A day before the swearing-in, Kenya’s High Court unblocked Kindiki’s inauguration as it argued that the position cannot remain vacant under the Constitution, which stipulates that there must be “continuity”, thus voiding a previous ruling that suspended Kindiki’s inauguration.

This came after Gachagua filed a court application to halt his impeachment proceedings after Kindiki won the backing of the National Assembly after being appointed by President William Ruto.

Gachagua was dismissed in mid-October by Parliament after failing to testify in a political trial while he was in the hospital. His lawyer said he was suffering from chest pains and had asked for a postponement of the vote.

The current Minister of the Interior, Kindiki, is considered one of the political actors closest to President Ruto, particularly as a result of his work in setting up the Kenya First grand coalition led by the Kenyan president.

He was also one of the president’s lawyers when he faced war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court stemming from ethnic violence in Kenya in 2008, which left at least 1,110 dead. The charges were dismissed by the court in 2016.