Since he became Deputy President at the start of November 2024 following the impeachment of Mr Rigathi Gachagua, Prof Kithure Kindiki has been mocked by rivals.
The Mountain appeared not to be going to Kindiki, and so Kindiki followed the Mountain.
Off he went, though the law professor would later be accused of breaking political laws here and there, like not informing some leaders that he was to visit their areas.
Since he became Deputy President at the start of November 2024 following the impeachment of Mr Rigathi Gachagua, Prof Kithure Kindiki has been mocked by rivals questioning his ability to convince Mt Kenya that it still has the same place it had in the government when the Kenya Kwanza coalition took power in 2022.
Last month, Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga called him a “coward” who fears going back to the region. Mr Gachagua dismisses Prof Kindiki as an appointee who can never carry the clout of an elected leader.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga when he appeared before the Senate Committee on County Public Accounts (CPAC) chaired by Homabay Senator Moses Kajwang at the Bunge Tower Nairobi on Tuesday, December 3, 2024.
And there is the song by rapper Nyashinski that mentions the professor in not-so-flattering terms.
As things stand, for pro-Gachagua critics the aibu (shame) in the title Naibu wa Rais (deputy president) seems to have a hold in the man who represented Tharaka Nithi in the Senate for a decade.
Amid all that, Prof Kindiki has hosted delegations at his residence, toured locations around the country with President William Ruto – whom he says has achieved more in two years than what President Mwai Kibaki did in five.
This weekend, Prof Kindiki marks 100 days since his swearing-in. It will not be too far from Valentine’s Day.
Deputy President Prof Kithure Kindiki takes his oath of office during his swearing-in at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on November 1, 2024.
Going by his messaging during his trips to Embu and Nyeri, he was on a mission to rekindle the enthusiasm Mt Kenya once had for Kenya Kwanza.
As a don, Prof Kindiki probably taught about the Latin legal principle quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit (whatever is attached to the soil belongs to the soil).
On paper, his home soil of Tharaka Nithi and surrounding areas were supposed to be his for the taking when he rose to the second biggest office in the land.
However, going by the cold shoulder that he and Dr Ruto were given by the audience at an event in Embu in November, plus subsequent messages from leaders, Prof Kindiki is far from politically owning Mt Kenya.
“I am an elected leader. How do I talk about an employee?” Mr Gachagua asked in February.
If the Biblical Abraham saw uncountable stars in the sky at night, Prof Abraham Kithure Kindiki would lose count of such remarks aimed at humbling him.
In his recent tours of Embu and Nyeri, his messaging centred on the need to prioritise development over popularity.
“Looking for popularity, looking who is the bigger person, who has the say, will not bother us as government. We will remain focused on delivery, because the time for campaign is not now,” he said in Embu after riding a motorbike in scenes reminiscent of the Kenya Kwanza’s campaign season focus on lower-cadre workers.
In Nyeri, he said: “The President and all of us who are working in this government have no time for quarrels and battles. We want to ensure that in the remaining few years, we push roads and water,” he said as he announced that roads and last-mile electricity were on the way.
During that Nyeri trip, area governor Mutahi Kahiga claimed that Prof Kindiki avoided local leaders.
In response to some of those missiles, Prof Kindiki has been feisty in some instances, like on January 29 when he shot back at Mr Gachagua’s remarks on a one-term presidency.
“Don’t scare us that (Dr Ruto) is a one-term President,” he said. “That is your objective? Just that?”
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki addresses wananchi at Aguthi Primary School grounds in Nyeri County on January 31, 2025.
He even got punchier: “There was somebody in this office, today he’s not here. Now he’s giving us ultimatums from funerals (about) how he will make Ruto a one-term President as if that is an achievement.”
In a February 4 interview, Mr Gachagua said he would not respond to Prof Kindiki.
“I am an elected leader. How do I talk about an employee?” he posed.
If the Biblical Abraham saw uncountable stars in the sky, Prof Abraham Kithure Kindiki will lose count of such remarks aimed at humbling him.
As this happens, efforts by various leaders to have Mt Kenya unified against Kenya Kwanza keep bubbling — just like the volcano deep in the bowels of the earth that boiled over and formed Kenya’s most famous mountain that has lent its name to a region and its politics.
