The deputy president of the Republic of Kenya ( Swahili: ''Naibu Rais wa Jamhuri ya Kenya'') is the principal assistant of the President of the Republic of Kenya.

History

Prior to the 2010

Constitution of Kenya The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme lawof the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The 2010 edition replaced the 1963 independence constit ...

, the deputy president was known as the Vice-President, and the President had the power to appoint and dismiss the Vice-President at will. In order to remove the repeated abuse of this privilege, the new Constitution promulgated in 2010 mandated that the person nominated as the running mate of a candidate for the presidency during the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

becomes the Deputy President-elect upon their candidate being declared the winner of the presidential elections. In addition to this change in appointing responsibility, unlike in the previous Constitution where the Vice President usually held a secondary role of being a

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘ prime minister� ...

, the new Constitution mandates that the Deputy President is not permitted to hold any other state or public office and shall only perform the duties assigned to the office by the Constitution and by the President. Since the country's

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

, there has been one vacancy in the office, from 8 January 1998 until 3 April 1999. Three of Kenya's Vice/Deputy Presidents,

Mwai Kibaki Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013 and is regarded as one of Kenya's founding fathers. He had previously ser ...

Daniel Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He was the country's longest-serving president. Moi previously served as the third vice ...

and William Ruto have gone on to serve as President, with the latter currently serving as the incumbent President since 13 September 2022. Prior to this, he served as

acting president An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or a vacation) or when the post is vacant (such as for death, injury, resignation, dismissal ...

for a few days after president

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Kenyatta was chosen by Daniel Arap Moi as his preferred successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition le ...

temporarily transferred his powers and office to appear before the International Criminal Court.

Qualifications and Election to Office

The 2010 Constitution states that for a person to become the Deputy President, the person must be nominated as the running mate of a candidate in the presidential elections and the person must themselves qualify to be nominated as a candidate for election as President. Upon a person being nominated as a running mate and their candidate wins the elections, the

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in the year 2011 through the making of the Constitution of Kenya. The Commission is responsible for conducting or supervising refere ...

then declares that the candidate is the President-elect, and the running mate is subsequently the Deputy President-elect. The Deputy President-elect takes office on the same day as the President-elect and serves from the date sworn in until: # The next President-elect is sworn in. # Upon assuming the office of the President; or # Resignation, death or being removed from office under the conditions provided by the Constitution

Responsibilities

The following is a summary of the responsibilities of the Deputy President as provided in the Constitution: # Serves as the President's principal assistant and deputises for the President in the performance of the responsibilities of the President. # The Deputy President acts as the President if the sitting President is absent, temporarily incapacitated or whenever the President assigns this responsibility; and # Performing any other responsibility assigned by the Constitution and the President.

List

;Parties

;Key Died in office

References

{{Deputy heads of state and government of Africa

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Vice-presidents * 1964 establishments in Kenya

History

Qualifications and Election to Office

Responsibilities

List

See also

References