News Break
Newsbreak takes you through the Life and times of the man likely to be appointed Deputy President William Ruto’s Running Mate
Prof. Abraham Kithure Kindiki who is the current Senator for Tharaka Nithi County was born on 16th July 1972 in Irunduni village in Mukothima Ward in Tharaka Nithi County. He attended Lenana High School and Tharaka Boys High School for his Secondary school education.
In 1994 he joined Moi University’s pioneer class of Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and graduated in 1998 with a Law degree. Upon graduation, he was retained as a graduate assistant due to his exemplary performance and later received a scholarship to study for his Master of Law and PhD at the University of Pretoria.
In 2000 he graduated with Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights Law and Democracy University of Pretoria, South Africa. He furthered his studies in South Africa and later in the year 2002 he graduated with a PhD in International Law, University of Pretoria.
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2000 (October) to 2001 (March) Kindiki worked as a Resettlement Consultant, Legal Unit/ Division of International Protection, UNHCR, Branch Office for South Africa where carried out legal protection work on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa. He was involved in refugee status determination, advising refugees and asylum seekers on their rights under national and international law and recommending durable solutions for them on a case-by-case basis. In the year 2001, he was appointed an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a Counsel for the International Criminal Court.
From 2004 to 2005 Professor Kindiki was a Law lecturer at the University of Nairobi before his appointment as the Head, Department of Public Law & Senior Lecturer of International Law, University of Nairobi.
In April, 2008, Kindiki was appointed Secretary of Cohesion in the Justice Ministry with a salary of Ksh. 500,000, but resigned after only 100 days in the office. He decried lack of political will to address the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons and other challenges facing the country and went back to lecture at the University of Nairobi.
Kindiki first came into limelight when he represented deputy president William Ruto as one of his lawyers at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the year 2011 who was facing charges for crimes against humanity for allegedly orchestrating the post-electoral violence in 2007 that killed hundreds of people.
The ICC case earned him fame which he would later use to launch his political journey. In the year 2013, he was elected the first Senator for Tharaka Nithi County and went on to be re-elected in 2017 where he also served as the Majority Leader in the Senate during the 2013–2017 term and Deputy Speaker of the Senate from August 2017 up to 22nd May 2022 when he was de-whipped from the position by the Jubilee Party.
He has published many articles in peer-reviewed journals and has acted as a consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other international and national organizations.
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