By Shazia Majale,
NAIROBI, Kenya: Before the baton passes on to the next person, usually, there’s some kind of preparation that both parties undertake before handing it over and/or receiving it. What happens then when there are hostilities surrounding the baton?
The sporadic happenings that were the former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment meant that the new Deputy President Kithure Kindiki’s taking office surrounds itself with peculiar challenges. Rigathi’s ongoing cases concerning the office leave unpopular impressions in and beyond the country, for starters, making selling that office to the public a daunting task.
It doesn’t help that the DP’s office has been riddled with ailments since the promulgation of the new constitution.
The two deputies of the Kenya Kwanza government share some similarities, but there are also differences between them.
Similarities
Just like Kindiki, the camaraderie that Rigathi claimed to have with the president while taking office seems to be made to stand the test of time. However, given the happenings in that office, only time can tell if the friendship between Kindiki and his bestie will outlive the political tides.
As in the beautiful case of all besties, one bestie has the vision, and the other follows or helps the vision come to fruition, purportedly as a shared vision. Abra K. pledges to support his bestie’s vision so he can finally work on delivering competently, and this was also Gachagua when he took oath of office two years back.
The challenges the office of the deputy president faces weren’t unique to Rigathi. While being the DP, the president faced some of the same challenges, with the only difference being that there was no impeachment motion against him. Kindiki may never be impeached, but there’s no telling for sure that the office isn’t a poisoned chalice.
Differences
Unlike Rigathi, who is outspoken and never misses a chance to give his opinion on issues, Kindiki is soft-spoken and not too interested in chiming in on everything. This could work in his favor, seeing as it was his words that landed the former DP in hot soup.
It is also worth noting that Kindiki has worked with the president in different capacities before, which is an advantage to his demeanor and conduct, unlike Rigathi, who was thrust right into the role, and colliding personalities soon showed.
Back to visions again: By virtue of having worked together for years, Kindiki represents the president’s visions, and there are reasonable doubts if he even has some of his own. On the other hand, Gachagua, while supporting the president’s visions, clearly harbored some of his own ideas that he wanted to accomplish with a single shot.
Lessons
The current DP comes into power in an office that has epic stories that turn ugly quickly. The DP’s office and that of the president start off in a bromance that’s almost enviable, which eventually turns to irreconcilable differences that end up being personal at some point.
His advantage is that he has predecessors to learn from mistakes, successes, moves, and all. He could choose to soak in all the glory he currently enjoys or come up with a working formula that doesn’t leave him vulnerable. But with all said, history loves repeating itself, and only time can tell how tides change for Mr. Abraham K.
