2013 Presidential race: When former president Moi gets involved...

late 2002, Mudavadi was the last and shortest serving Vice-President of Kenya under President Daniel arap Moi. Mudavadi was appointed in an unsuccessful attempt 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 After the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) split from the ODM-K, Mudavadi sought the nomination of the ODM 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. Along with the other defeated candidates, Mudavadi expressed his support for Odinga afterward, and he was named Odinga's running mate for the election. Although the election was officially won by Kibaki, 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. Mudavadi and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in on April 17. As a youngster, he played rugby union for Mean Machine RFC. Mudavadi Probed in Graves Plot Scandal In March 2010,Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi come under investigation by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission(KACC)over the Sh283 million cemetery land fraud.KACC officials said that they wanted to establish whether the minister was party to the fraud in which the City Council of Nairobi bought land valued at Sh24 million for nearly Sh300 million.But Mr Mudavadi protested his innocence and said KACC was being unfair by accusing him without giving him a chance to be heard. Investigations are currently ongoing into the matter. When former president Moi gets very actively involved in something like the 2013 presidential elections there is reason to sit up and pay attention. And when the candidate that the former president is supporting is a State house project there is even more reason for concern. I can report that the former president is very closely involved in the Amani coalition campaign that is fronting deputy prime minister Musalia Mudavadi for president. I have nothing against the son of the late Sabstone Mudamba Mudavadi or Ma-DVD as the young people fondly call him. In my view he is the lesser evil in a field of extremely evil and selfish presidential candidates. But the older Moi’s deep and enthusiastic involvement in his campaign is something that Kenyans need to pay very close attention to. Those who know the old man well will tell you that he never forgets a favour. That is how he managed to rule Kenya for 24 years the last 14 being extremely trying with virtually every western power pumping some serious money into the country to bring his rule to an abrupt end. They and their sacks of cash failed miserably Many years ago when Moi had not even entered politics Mwalimu Mudamba being a senior official in the ministry of education promoted Moi from a P3 teacher to a P2 teacher. Years later when Moi took over as president Mudamba quickly ended up in his cabinet and was the most “untouchable” member of the inner cabinet. Unlike the other members of cabinet who were subject to a one o’clock news bulletin shocker old man Mudamba was so close to the president that he was exempt. For the information of younger readers of this blog President Moi would make frequent cabinet re-shuffles, firing and hiring during the one o’clock news bulletin. So much so that many ambitious Kenyans would listen to the KBC 1:00 PM news knowing that their lives would easily be transformed by a single bulletin. And indeed many lives were. The late professor George Saitoti was a struggling unknown mathematics lecturer at the University of Nairobi when his name was mentioned in one such bulletin and the rest is history. Moi is indeed a good friend to have because when Mudamba suddenly passed on, his son who had only recently graduated from the University of Nairobi with a land Economics degree found himself in the cabinet in a flash. The name of that son was Musalia and he never had to warm the back benches first. He went straight into cabinet. Kenyans who believe that Moi is going to get involved Ma-DVD’s campaign to lose are naïve. There is one very important thing that virtually all political analysts in the country have missed. And that is the fact that the rules of the presidential elections game have changed dramatically. Everybody is behaving like either CORD or Jubilee will win the first round and end up in State house. All Ma-DVD needs to do is to ensure that he comes in second on March 4th. Politically any contest between Mudavadi and Uhuru or between Mudavadi and Raila will hand over victory to the son of Mudamba. That is a certainty. Perhaps you are reading this and dismissing it as some DIRAYETU pipe dream. I have no problem with that because in my long blogging experience I have had many of my posts written off as ranting at best and pure insanity at worst only for things to play out in a manner that is fairly similar to the “madness” suggested. The campaigns proper have just began Why Raila, Uhuru may need Mudavadi. It has been a long and arduous road to next month's election Kalonzo said it was unfortunate that the trap set by Uhuru Kenyatta earlier on had inadvertently caught Mudavadi while he had evaded it due to his wise calculations. Former president who met with Amani coalition members expresses confidence they will form next government. Former President Daniel Arap Moi has pledged to support Musalia Mudavadi’s bid to become the fourth president of Kenya. Speaking yesterday during a meeting with some of the Amani Coalition members at his Kabarak home, Moi expressed confidence that the coalition will form the next government after the March 4 General Election. “Rift Valley is warming up fast to Amani Coalition so you have to be confident and know that you will succeed because you have the numbers,” Moi said. Present were the coalition’s flag bearer, Mudavadi, his running mate Jeremiah Kioni, New Ford Kenya’s Eugene Wamalwa and Kanu’s Gideon Moi. Very closely Others present were, Musikari Kombo, Kipruto Kirwa, Nick Salat, Ken Lusaka, Paul Sang, George Khaniri, Bisau Kakai, Mark Too, Shadrack Manga and Amin Walji. “I knew the late Moses Mudavadi (Musalia’s father) and worked very closely with him so I am with you fully and I am confident that Amani Coalition will sweep all the seats in Baringo county,” Moi said. He urged the coalition to advocate for a non-tribalised country, saying tribalism has been a hindrance to the development of the country. He urged the election candidates to tour the country more widely, especially where the coalition has less support so as to get more voters. “Kenya is a well known country and everybody is concerned about the process and outcome of the election, but I am sure there will be no violence during the exercise,” Moi added. Mudavadi expressed gratitude to the former president for endorsing the coalition and expressed confidence that they would become victorious after the elections.