Vice president William Ruto
Mr Ruto has taken advantage of the new Constitution -- which he opposed in the 2010 referendum -- and he appears keen to re-configure the office which has initially been overshadowed by the presidency, or comes out as an appendage.
One of the most defining features of the office is
that the Constitution mandates the Deputy President to sit in for the
President when he is absent.
Aricle 147(3) says: Subject to Article 134, when
the President is absent or is temporarily incapacitated, and during any
other period that the President decides, the Deputy President shall act
as the President.
And, in case a President dies in office, the Deputy is mandated to complete the remaining term.
In the past week, President Kenyatta has been out
of the country, first to attend a conference on Somalia in London and
then the World Economic Forum in South Africa.
Mr Ruto has made headlines at least four times
this wekk, and it looks as though there will be more going by his mode
of operation.
But perhaps it is his action on the insecurity in
Mandera and Bungoma that best illustrate the face of the second most
powerful position in the country.
While President Kenyatta was in Cape Town
yesterday, Mr Ruto ordered the deplayment of army troops to Mandera
County to disarm local and foreign groups terrorising residents.
He said Kenya and Ethiopia were engaged in
securing their common border. “We have dispatched the Kenya Defence
Forces to carry out a disarmament exercise in Mandera,” he said.
Mr Ruto also instructed the Inspector-General of
Police David Kimaiyo to send an additional 200 officers to Mandera to
beef up security.
And Friday, Mr Ruto flew to Bungoma and ordered police officers to use maximum force in dealing with criminal gangs.
“There are those who think the guns police have
lack bullets. Any person armed to cause mayhem will be shot. The attacks
and killing of innocent citizens should be immediately stopped.”
President Kenyatta, who returned to the country that morning from Londo
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