Why Musalia Mudavadi remains at centre-stage of William Ruto’s 2027 re-election bid

With only 17 months to go ahead of the 2027 General Election, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has sprung up as the most dependable, loyal and efficient lieutenant in President William Ruto’s administration.

Widely respected for his bold move to stop Exchequer-draining Goldenberg scandal and establishing the now thriving Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) when he was Finance Minister in the 1990s, Mudavadi is arguably among the few – if not the only one – in Cabinet outside Ruto’s Kalenjin community who has not given the Head of State reason to worry about his loyalty, ambition, respect as well as conviction in and commitment to the Government he leads.

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Dabbling up as the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Mudavadi declared repeatedly three years ago that he would be backing President Ruto’s re-election in 2027.

Ruto himself has not hidden his liking for, and companionship of the 65-year-old former Deputy Prime Minister who left the country on Friday for a two-day official visit to Ethiopia aimed at strengthening co-operation and bilateral relations.

On occasions far more than once, Ruto has openly displayed his soft spot for Mudavadi.

With the populous Kikuyu community which contributed to bulk of voter weight to Ruto’s election in August 2022 now having considerably drifted it’s support from the incumbent, Ruto is now casting his net wider in other areas where he performed dismally in the last election,especially in the former Western, Nyanza, Coast and North Eastern provinces.

In addition to Trans-Nzoia County which lies at the far far westerly corner of the vast former Rift Valley province, the former Western Province – encompassing Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga counties – have a combined 2.1 million votes, one million more than the total votes Ruto obtained from the former Central Province.

Ruto’s campaign team will be keen to woo the electorate in Western Kenya to rally behind the President with a view to replacing the evaporated support from Central Kenya.

Mudavadi remains the most prominent and recognisable politician from the region in the Ruto regime

Even though President Ruto last month appointed Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka to co-ordinate the Kenya Kwanza Alliance 2027 pre-election campaigns, Mudavadi together with National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, Cooperatives Development Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya and Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) secretary-general Francis Atwoli have the enormous task of delivering the Mulembe Nation vote to the Ruto camp.

As the third highest ranking and most experienced Member of Ruto’s Cabinet, Mudavadi towers above the rest of the relatively younger 22-member pack in the Executive.

With less than two years to the next presidential race, Mudavadi has emerged as a crucial cog in the wheel of Ruto re-election bid next year.

He is now one of the key players who will have to slug it out in the trenches to ensure Ruto retains the State House tenancy when the elections come.

Rightly so. Apart from the State Law Office, Mudavadi has served in every Cabinet docket. .

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary a side, Mudavadi has in the past served as Vice-President, Finance Minister, Minister for Transport and Communications, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Supplies and Marketing and Minister for Agriculture.

At the height of the Gen-Z protests in June 2024, Ruto appointed Mudavadi as acting Cabinet Secretary in 21 ministries for a fortnight, weeks after he sacked the rest of his Cabinet in response to public demand.

That Mudavadi is at the centre-stage of Ruto’s re-election bid is not in doubt. He has a proven track record, with loyalty, respect and service delivery characterising his well-beaten trail.

On January 23, 2022, Mudavadi quit the Opposition One Kenya Alliance (OKA) to team up with Ruto in what has famously come to be known as ‘The Earthquake’, an event that took place at the Bomas of Kenya.

Last year, Mudavadi folded his UDA party to merge with Ruto’s UDA. Giving reason for the move, the former long-serving Sabatia MP stated:
“I did not want the President to be looking back behind his shoulder wondering what is happening there. We wanted the President to fully concentrate on his work and succeed without having to worry about those behind him “

After the exit of ANC from the Kenyan political map, some of its members splintered into existing miniature regional outfits, the most notable of them being the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) led by former Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa and his deputy in outspoken Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya and new ones like the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) spearheaded by former Mudavadi allies Geoffrey Kanoti (chairman) and Barrack Muluka (secretary -general) and the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) of impeached former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and whose deputy is another former Mudavadi ally in the person of immediate former Kakamega senator and immediate former UDA secretary-general Cleophas Malalah.

Also to have joined the anti-Ruto crusade in the region is the sitting Kakamega senator Dr Boni Khalwale who was elected on a UDA party ticket in 2022.

Mudavadi’s hand, influence and experience will direly be needed to ward off all such existing and emerging challenges as he, Lusaka, Atwoli and Wetang’ula chart formidable ways of securing Ruto maximum votes in next year’s presidential contest.

In his more than three decades political career, Mudavadi has supported the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for Presidency twice, Uhuru once and Ruto twice (in addition to next year).

Over the years, the electorate in Western Kenya has largely voted for the presidential candidacy of the late Raila Odinga, a former Prime Minister who until his demise last October was the Party Leader of the Opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

With the departure of the former Lang’ata MP from the Kenyan political landscape, the ODM voting demographies are up for grabs following a limitless succession brouhaha that has gripped the once political powerhouse.

Musalia Mudavadi, himself a close friend of the late Raila, has the onerous task of helping Ruto weave a meticulous pathway that will guarantee the President overwhelming support not only in the Mulembe Nation but also in other ODM-dominatedvareas around the country.

Both Ruto and Mudavadi are founder-members of the now wobbling ODM.