Musalia Mudavadi
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Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi (born September 21, 1960) is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government.
Madavadi was born in Sabatia, Vihiga District. He first became an MP in 1989, when he was elected unopposed to take the seat vacated by his deceased father Moses Mudavadi. [1]
He was the last and shortest serving Vice-President of Kenya under President Daniel Arap Moi. Mudavadi was appointed in an attempt, that would end in failure, to bring the Luhya tribe into the camp of KANU, which had been the party of government since independence.
Mudavadi ran for Vice-President as Uhuru Kenyatta's running mate in the 2002 election. Despite the support of the outgoing President Moi, the KANU political machine and the provincial administration, the Kenyatta/Mudavadi ticket was roundly beaten and Mudavadi lost his Sabatia parliamentary seat.
In 2005, Mudavadi made a political comeback by aligning himself with the 'No' side in that year's Referendum on the proposed new Constitution. This aligned him clearly with Raila Odinga's LDP and it was speculated that he could become the leading Luhya politician.[citation needed]
Mudavadi sought the nomination of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), following its split from the ODM-K, as its candidate for the December 2007 presidential election. On September 1, 2007, the ODM elected Odinga as its presidential candidate; Mudavadi took second place with 391 votes, far short of Odinga's 2,656 votes.[1] Along with the other defeated candidates, Mudavadi expressed his support for Odinga afterward, and he was named Odinga's running mate for the election.[2]
Although the election was officially won by Kibaki, the ODM disputed the official results and claimed victory for Odinga. A violent crisis developed, which eventually led to the signing of a power-sharing agreement between Kibaki and Odinga. As part of the grand coalition Cabinet, Mudavadi was named as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Government on April 13, 2008. He is the Deputy Prime Minister representing the ODM, while Kenyatta is the Deputy Prime Minister representing Kibaki's Party of National Unity.[3][4][5] Mudavadi and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in on April 17.[6][7]
As a youngster, he played rugby union for Mean Machine RFC. [2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Kenya: It's Raila for President", East African Standard (allAfrica.com), September 1, 2007.
- ^ Maina Muiruri, "ODM ‘pentagon’ promises to keep the team intact", The Standard (Kenya), September 2, 2007.
- ^ "Kenya unveils 40-seat cabinet", Al Jazeera, April 13, 2008.
- ^ "Kenya unveils coalition cabinet", BBC News, April 13, 2008.
- ^ Anthony Kariuki, "Kibaki names Raila PM in new Cabinet", nationmedia.com, April 13, 2008.
- ^ Eric Ombok, "Kenya's Raila Odinga Sworn in as Prime Minister, Ending Crisis", Bloomberg.com, April 17, 2008.
- ^ "Odinga sworn in as Kenya PM", Al Jazeera, April 17, 2008.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by George Saitoti |
Vice-President of Kenya 2002 |
Succeeded by Michael Wamalwa Kijana |
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