Is President Uhuru Kenyatta about to appoint Musalia Mudavadi to Cabinet?

Musalia Mudavadi PHOTO: COURTESY

By OSCAR OBONYO

President Uhuru’s renewed political overtures to UDF leader Musalia Mudavadi have rattled many.

Opinion is divided even in Mudavadi’s corner on whether or not he should take up a government job, which is believed to have been offered. News about the offer has been in the air for a week now, although sources within Jubilee and UDF declined to confirm.

However, noting that the current Cabinet consists of 18 members and that constitutionally the President can still appoint four more members, Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki says Cabinet changes could be “around the corner”.

“It is nearly one year since the current Cabinet was sworn into office and this is enough time to audit the performance of the secretaries and a possible reshuffle where there is need to strengthen the team. Changes are definitely in the air, but when and who joins government, I cannot be sure,” he told The Standard on Sunday.

Contacted, Mudavadi expressed ignorance over the development, instead directing us to State House: “Only the appointing authority can give details of this alleged appointment, otherwise I am in the dark just like everybody else.”

Tough decision

The one-time Vice President and former Deputy Prime Minister has acknowledged the heavy presence of the “appointment rumour”. He could also not confirm or deny whether the President would be chief guest at the 25th anniversary of his late father – former Cabinet minister Moses Budamba Mudavadi – on February 8. “We are still consulting over the guest list and when we are ready, we shall communicate the same to the relevant individuals,” was all Mudavadi could say.

In the meantime, the 2013 presidential candidate is confronted with a tough decision on whether to join the Uhuru-led government or decline a possible job offer.

On the one hand, his cronies and hangers on are pushing him to take the job, most of them pursuing personal interests. On the other, a group of close friends warn that taking up a government job would be politically suicidal. “We (Luhya) are in deep trouble. One cannot even win a crucial tender and that is why we need an experienced well-connected and wired individual like Mudavadi to help us,” one businessman said .

Those with business interests point out that the sole Luhya in the Cabinet, Environment Secretary Judy Wakhungu was not only unreachable but had no connections and was “totally green” about how “government business is transacted”.

Regarded as the gentleman of Kenya’s politics, if he turns down a job offer, it will not be the first time for Mudavadi to do so. He turned down a nomination slot to Parliament in 2002 after he lost his Sabatia seat, when he ran as Uhuru’s running mate.

“My primary concern now is not getting a job but rather to rebuild my party and coalition,” Mudavadi, who last week declared he would vie for the presidency in 2017, told The Standard on Sunday.

But his backers want him to take up the job. Lugari MP Ayub Savula puts it bluntly: “Members of our (Luhya) community are keen on being part of government, and more specifically, they are interested in jobs and more jobs.”

A Cabinet slot, says Savula, would accord Mudavadi the best platform to execute the devolution agenda and exhibit his abilities to run government. The MP believes Mudavadi would emerge stronger and “a potent candidate for the presidency in 2017”.

Savula is optimistic that after Mudavadi, many more leaders from the region including former Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa and former Speaker Kenneth Marende would get government postings. Marende only recently declined to vie for the position of ODM chairmanship.

In fact, to some like Khalid Njiraini, Mudavadi’s 2013 chief presidential campaigner, the former DPM deserves an appointment. Citing Mudavadi’s political sacrifice for Uhuru in 2002 when he shelved his candidature to be Uhuru’s running mate and the fiasco of the 2013 pre-poll agreement where Mudavadi was to be the Jubilee presidential candidate, Njiraini wants Mudavadi rewarded.

Jubilee tag

“Whether he (Mudavadi) likes it or not, he has already been branded Jubilee by some of our people and he should now embrace that Jubilee tag entirely and bring the Jubilee goodies to Western,” his chief campaigner said.

Even as word on the probable appointment circulates, the Office of the President and allies of Uhuru remained tight lipped on details. Calls to Secretary of Communication at State House Manoa Esipisu went unanswered. Those who spoke to us, however, confirmed that the President and Mudavadi were indeed “very close”.

“Mudavadi is a close friend of the President and on that account alone, I do not think the President will find it hard to attend a ceremony of his friend’s father. But with regard to the 2017 poll strategy, I think Mudavadi is damaged political goods,” a key TNA official confided to The Standard on Sunday.

Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale, who has lately differed with his party leader, warns that Mudavadi’s political career would be doomed should he take up any job from the Jubilee government.

“Unfortunately, UDF has refused to take my advice seriously. I told them, for instance, that it was a miscalculation to enter into a post-poll coalition with Jubilee, but nobody listened. Today we have nothing to show for it and neither are we a respected or effective side in the Opposition,” says Khalwale.

The vocal senator also advised his party leader against participating in the recently concluded senatorial by-election in Bungoma County, but Mudavadi insisted on throwing his weight behind the New Ford-Kenya candidate Musikari Kombo against Ford-Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula who recaptured the seat with a huge margin. Khalwale, who opted to campaign for Wetang’ula, says the poll outcome left UDF and Mudavadi with a lot of egg on the face.

Joker and spoiler

Khalwale’s unsolicited advise to Mudavadi is that he should not take up any job from Uhuru, as that would be tantamount to confirmation that he will not be a presidential candidate in 2017. But he encourages him to take up the job if he has finally dropped presidential ambitions.

“Having been Uhuru’s civil servant, he will not be able to turn around in 2017 and tell us that he is now Uhuru’s challenger. Kenyans are not fools and they will simply brand him, again, as a joker or a spoiler,” reacts Khalwale.

Nonetheless, according to Prof Kindiki, Mudavadi fits the bill. By virtue of being the leader of Amani, Kindiki observes, Mudavadi is already a member of the wider Jubilee family, “who understands our manifesto and who has appended his signature to work with the President and help execute our set economic goals”.

“Secondly, Mudavadi hails from Western region whose leaders have repeatedly protested that they are underrepresented in government, particularly in Cabinet appointments. I will therefore not be surprised if the President appoints him to serve in government,” says Kindiki.

According to political scientist Adams Oloo, Mudavadi’s possible move to the Cabinet makes political sense to the President’s 2017 poll strategy. Dr Oloo equates Mudavadi and UDF to a spare wheel “in the event that TNA and URP fall apart ahead 2017”.

“For Kenyatta, the Mudavadi strategy is advantageous twofold. If Ruto’s URP bolts out of the coalition then he would have Mudavadi to hold onto and proceed with to the 2017 poll. And if he and Ruto stay together, he would have succeeded to keep Mudavadi and UDF away from the opposition wing of CORD,” argues Dr Oloo, chairman of political science and public administration department at the University of Nairobi.

Indeed the idea of the President getting cosy with Mudavadi is already causing some disquiet in Rift Valley, the political backyard of Deputy President William Ruto. An MP who requested anonymity expressed fears that Mudavadi’s presence may alter the political equation within Jubilee.

But Kericho County Senator, Charles Keter allays such fears by stating that Mudavadi’s party and Amani Coalition are part of the Jubilee coalition. The senator, a close ally of Ruto, maintains that Mudavadi’s entry to government, “if at all”, poses no political threat to the Deputy President.

“It is true that Mudavadi and the President are close friends having worked together in the independence party, Kanu, under (retired President) Moi. But similarly, the President and the Deputy President have worked closely and remain the best of friends,” Keter said.

Dr Oloo opines that a Cabinet slot cannot help Mudavadi politically and challenges him to reflect on the fates Charity Ngilu and Najib Balala, whose hands are tied and are allegedly losing political clout.

“A move to government will be a personal win for Mudavadi but politically it will be a major loss,” declares Oloo.