Kenya Deputy President arrives in Uganda

CAPTION: Kithure Kindiki, center waves, arrives at Entebbe International Airport Friday July 31st, 2026. (Courtesy photo).

       Deputy President Kithure Kindiki travelled to Entebbe, Uganda, to represent President William               Ruto at a key African Union summit on Somalia

• Kindiki was accompanied by a high-ranking delegation led by Defence Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya
• The trip comes amid reports that a core function previously held by Kindiki had been reassigned to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has arrived in Entebbe, Uganda, to represent President William Ruto at the 2nd Extra-Ordinary Summit of the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), a high-level gathering convened to deliberate on the trajectory of the continental peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Kindiki announced his arrival in Entebbe on Friday, 31 July, via a post on X, stating that he was in Uganda “to represent Kenya during the 2nd Extra-Ordinary Summit of the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) on behalf of President William Ruto.”

Upon landing, the Deputy President and his delegation were received by Ababu Namwamba, Kenya’s High Commissioner to Uganda.

Kindiki’s Delegation and the AUSSOM Summit

The delegation accompanying Kindiki was led by Defence Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya, signalling the weight Nairobi attaches to the Entebbe meeting. AUSSOM, which succeeded the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), is the continental body mandated to support Somalia’s Federal Government in stabilising the country and countering the Al-Shabaab insurgency. Extra-Ordinary Summits of this nature are typically convened to address urgent operational, funding, or strategic questions facing the mission.

Kenya has long maintained a significant stake in Somalia’s stability, both as a troop-contributing country and as a neighbour directly affected by cross-border security threats.

Assignment Amid Reported Demotion

Kindiki’s travel to Entebbe carries additional significance given the political backdrop surrounding his office. A wave of media reports in recent days claimed that the Ruto administration had moved to strip the Deputy President of his most active function, intergovernmental coordination, and hand it to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.

According to those reports, the reassignment was effected through official correspondences involving Mudavadi, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, the Attorney General, and the Senate. Under the new arrangement, Mudavadi would serve as the operational bridge between the national government and county governments, a role Kindiki had been actively performing.

Critics argued that the move would leave Kindiki without any substantial docket, reducing his role to carrying out assignments at the President’s direction rather than independently overseeing a defined policy portfolio.

Rather than issuing a detailed rebuttal to those claims, Kindiki chose a brief social media post announcing his departure for Uganda, offering no direct response to the reports circulating about his diminished responsibilities.

His assignment to represent the Head of State at a formal African Union summit, however, positions him visibly within Ruto’s inner circle at a moment when questions about his relevance within the administration have intensified.