Having occupied and being the shortest serving Vice President in Kenya’s history, Musalia Mudavadi has also held powerful cabinet posts as Finance Minister and minister for Local Government in during a combined tenure of former President the late Daniel Arap Moi.
Musalia was thrust into the murky political waters as a greenhorn politician.
He is the current Party Leader of Amani National Congress after decamping from the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) to form Kenya Kwanza coalition with Deputy President William Ruto of United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and Moses Wetangula of Ford Kenya.
In 2012, he was the deputy party leader for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), which was led by Prime Minister Raila Odinga. In the 2013 Kenyan general election, he came in third place.
He first became a Member of Parliament in 1989, when he was elected unopposed to take the Sabatia Constituency seat vacated by his deceased father Moses Mudavadi.
He went on to win the 1992 and 1997 Sabatia constituency parliamentary seat.
Muadavadi served as the seventh Vice President of Kenya in 2002 and as Deputy Prime Minister from 2008- 2012 May when he resigned officially to join the presidential race.
Mudavadi is among the top contenders for the 2022 Kenya presidential election.
He was Kenya’s last and shortest-serving Vice-President under President Daniel Arap Moi in late 2002.
Mudavadi was selected in a failed attempt to sway Western Province voters to the KANU camp, which had been the government party since independence.
In the 2002 election, Mudavadi ran for vice president as Uhuru Kenyatta’s running mate. The Kenyatta/Mudavadi ticket was soundly defeated, and Mudavadi lost his Sabatia parliamentary seat, despite the support of President Moi, the KANU political machine, and the province administration.
Mudavadi made a political comeback in 2005, when he backed the ‘No’ campaign in a referendum on a proposed new Constitution. As a result, he was obviously associated with Raila Odinga’s LDP, and speculation arose that he could become the prominent Luhya politician.
After ODM separated from the ODM-K, Mudavadi sought the ODM’s candidacy as its presidential candidate in December 2007. On September 1, 2007, the ODM chose Odinga as their presidential candidate; Mudavadi came in second with 391 votes, a long cry from Odinga’s 2,656. Mudavadi then expressed his support for Odinga, along with the other defeated candidates, and was selected Odinga’s running mate for the election.
He decamped from ODM when a party constitution clause that provided the party leader a direct nomination as a presidential candidate effectively kept him out of the contest.
He declined to resign as the Republic of Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister, claiming that the position of Deputy Prime Minister is a political one and that he would not quit.
He, on the other hand, withdrew the coalition after a violation of contract that specified that Uhuru Kenyatta would step down as the UDF/TNA/URP coalition’s presidential flag bearer in his favour.
Uhuru stunned the nation when he admitted to signing the pact, but he justified his action, alleging that he was forced to do so by “evil forces.”
This breach of agreement was caused by Uhuru’s supporters, who maintained that he must be the coalition’s presidential candidate and that any nominations must be decided by party delegates through a vote.
Because of the agreement with Kenyatta and the fact that the delegates themselves had not been chosen through grassroots polls, Mudavadi objected, claiming that the front-runner should be decided by consensus.
He was the sole National Super Alliance principal who did not run for an elective seat in the 2017 general election, however he was the NASA campaigner.
Odinga, the NASA presidential candidate, decided to swear in after the 2017 general elections. Mudavadi said the simulated swearing-in was unconstitutional and refused to attend.
On March 9, 2018, the NASA presidential candidate shook President Uhuru Kenyatta’s hand. Mudavadi has become the main opposition figure in Kenyan politics since 2018, and he has become more vocal about the country’s economy and massive public debt.
Mudavadi has been traveling across the country in 2021 to promote his presidential campaign. He hinted at working with William Ruto in 2022 and promised never to work with Raila again.
He accepted the ANC’s presidential nomination in January 2022, and vowed to cooperate with his excellency, Ruto.
Mudavadi was very articulate in his announcement, calling it an “earthquake” and told the Kenyans that the time to be deceived is far gone and as a leader will not allow that to continue again.
By using the phrase “tusindanganyane” Mudavadi warned that Kenyans need to rise up and save the country from looming danger.
The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) began investigating Mudavadi in March 2010 over a Sh283 million cemetery land theft.
Officials from the Kenyan Anti-Corruption Commission said they sought to find out if the minister was involved in the fraudulent purchase of land worth Sh24 million by the Nairobi City Council for approximately Sh300 million.
Mudavadi maintained his innocence, claiming that KACC was treating him unfairly by accusing him without allowing him to be heard.
He was not a party to the cemetery land purchase and so was not a party to the scandal.
Mudavadi did not receive any money from the incident, and he was not involved in any manner in the scheme that led to the cemetery land scam, it was later revealed.