Details of the Ruto, Mudavadi pact that led to dissolution of ANC

President William Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi exit a closed session meeting ahead of the 38th African Union (AU) Summit, where leaders will elect a new head of the AU Commission, at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa on February 14, 2025. [AFP] Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, the former party leader of the moribund Amani National Congress (ANC), has put on hold his ambitions until 2032 when President William Ruto will be expected to endorse his presidential bid. This is contained in a secret pact between him and the Head of State who has also signed the death certificate of the ten-year-old ANC that sponsored seven MPs, 33 MCAs and one governor in the last general election. Multiple sources within Ruto and Mudavadi circles intimated that the agreement by both leaders secured the Foreign Affairs CS position until 2027. The pact also promises Mudavadi to be Ruto's running mate in 2027 as part of an elaborate strategy so that he can ultimately succeed him as United Democratic Alliance (UDA)'s presidential flag bearer in 2032. On Friday last week, ANC National Delegates Council (NDC) met at Bomas of Kenya and ratified the dissolution of the party, giving the officials a nod to transfer all the assets and liabilities to the ruling UDA party. "Already, a section of former party officials is in the process of being integrated into the UDA secretariat to ensure that Mudavadi's interests are well taken care of. The UDA top leadership also has the former ANC party leadership and this means that Mudavadi has an influence in the running and management of the ruling party," a source familiar with the intrigues told The Saturday Standard. The former ANC party leaders who have been incorporated into the UDA leadership include former chairperson Kelvin Lunani who is now vice chairperson of the ruling party, Lamu Governor Issa Timamy who was ANC's acting party leader joins Deputy President Kithure Kindiki as the second UDA deputy party leader. Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba who has been serving as ANC's secretary general has taken up the role of deputy secretary-general deputising East African Legislative Assembly MP Hassan Omar. The seven MPs who joined UDA have been tasked with drumming up support for UDA in the Western region as part of Dr Ruto's wider strategy to "build a robust political party that transcends the political landscape of our nation generations and government administrations". The strategy has been viewed as the President's plan to endear himself to the Western region since, as the politicians seeking elective positions battle it out through his party, they would also be rallying their supporters to back his re-election campaign. Mudavadi has since pronounced that it would be "a conflict of interest" and unfair for him to field candidates against his boss, leave alone contesting for presidency against the person who signed a Gazette notice making him the Prime Cabinet Secretary. "It is a serious conflict of interest. Extremely serious because he (Ruto) is the President of the Republic and we serve in his government. Like my brothers and sisters in the ANC, it is not practical for me to have candidates again against the President. So what is the logical thing to do? We work together so that his candidate is my candidate and my candidate is his candidate," Mudavadi told ANC officials while initiating the merger cum dissolution exercise last year. Last week, the officials of the defunct ANC expressed their intention to dissolve saying it was a well-calculated decision to strengthen the political future where Ruto would back Mudavadi's presidential bid in 2032. "Our eyes are on 2032. The decision we have taken is because the road is bumpy. When you go there, do not be worried because we are eying 2032," Milemba told the NDC. On his part, Lunani said: "A united front would solidify their influence in government. When we join hands, we become stronger. This merger will form a government in 2027 and beyond." Another plan by Ruto and Mudavadi is to rebrand UDA in a move that will see the party incorporate ANC identity symbols in the new logo, imagery, typography and brand of the party. Mudavadi is understood to have borrowed a leaf from Ruto's strategy that saw him shelve his ambitions in 2013 to work under Uhuru to mobilise resources that enabled him to mount a spirited campaign in 2022's general election. Political analysts have described Mudavadi's decision to dissolve his party as a major political miscalculation, citing past experiences where politicians entered into a memorandum of understanding that they later dropped and failed to honour. Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua laughed off Mudavadi's plans saying he failed to learn from his "miscalculation" when he entered into an agreement with the President without a party, a move he said left him exposed when they broke ranks, leading to his impeachment. "I don't understand why Mudavadi folded his party to join UDA because he was supposed to learn from our miscalculations for joining a government without a party. Coalitions are the future of our country and you can't enter into a coalition without a political entity. But it is up to him," Gachagua said. Political analyst Barrack Muluka said in the past, the third President Mwai Kibaki entered into an MOU with Kalonzo Musyoka for him to cross over to become his vice president in 2007 with the promise that he would back his presidential bid in 2013 but this never materialised.

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