Rise of Mudavadi: Extra roles signals his growing influence in Ruto's circle

Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi. [File, Standard]

When President Ruto dismissed 21 Cabinet Secretaries in the wake of Gen Z and millennials uprising, one man, Musalia Mudavadi, was left standing and tasked to fill in the void created by the mass sacking.

Until Thursday when 19 Cabinet Secretaries were sworn in after vetting, Mudavadi has been overseeing all policy directives in the ministries including approving all the policies and major decisions within the ministries and the state corporations.

On a typical working day, Mudavadi would receive numerous calls from one or the other ministry as the Principal secretary here or a Director General there sought his opinion, a decision or an approval.

“The Prime Cabinet Secretary had his hands full all the time and sometimes was forced to be in the office in the wee hours and sometimes leave office at midnight. It was not an easy task for him,” said a senior official in his office.

In the two years that President Ruto has been in office, Mudavadi has emerged as his blue-eyed boy and has periodically been entrusted with tough but delicate assignments by his boss.

Parliament completed vetting of the new cabinet on Tuesday and approved the nomination of 19 CSs a day later to pave way for Thursday's swearing in, marking the end of one of Mudavadi's most demanding assignments.

“Such a huge responsibility must come from the deep trust the President has in the Prime Cabinet secretary, bestowing him the task of running all the ministries for over a month, ” said Javas Bigambo, a political analyst.

Bigambo says that due to Mudavadi’s clean track record and performance in his past assignments in different governments under three former Presidents, the Prime Cabinet secretary has earned the respect of the Head of State.

Mudavadi’s office according to Executive Order Number 2 and 3 is mandated to oversee the performance of the Principal Secretaries including periodical meetings with them.

Apart from assisting the President and his Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in the co-ordination and supervision of Ministries and State Departments, being the Head of Kenya’s Foreign Service, and advise the Presidency on regional, continental, and global affairs, Mudavadi also chairs the Principal Secretaries’ Committees and oversee national government operations.

“Coordinate the implementation of the National Government’s legislative agenda across all Ministries and State Departments in consultation with, and for transmission to, the Party/Coalition Leadership in Parliament, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour & Social Protection, to lead in the implementation of the National Labour Migration Policy as a key pillar of Kenya’s foreign policy,” reads the Executive Order No 2 of 2023.

Mudavadi is also expected to support the CSs of National Treasury and Economic Planning, Investments, Trade and Industry, Agriculture and Livestock Development, and other ministries within the productive sector to deepen Kenya’s diplomatic and economic partnerships.

Notably, with the sour political relationship between President Ruto and his deputy, the Head of State has found a 'safe pair of hands’ in working with Mudavadi.

“Mudavadi has the persona of someone you work with, and feel comfortable with. It is no wonder three Kenyan Presidents found it easy working with him and bestowing him with duties that require someone they trust,” said Dismas Mokua, a political analyst.

With his former Amani National Congress (ANC) party expected to merge with the President’s UDA, the place of the Prime Cabinet Secretary is set to be more concrete and deeper.

In the last two years, Mudavadi has represented the Head of State in eight international trips including Switzerland, United Kingdom, Burundi, Angola, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, stealing the show away from the President's second in command.

Last year, Mudavadi represented the President at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR) 74th session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioners Programme in Geneva, Switzerland, the inauguration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa (Zimbabwe), President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Nigeria) among other trips in Europe and Africa.

"It is about the confidence the President has in him, he feels comfortable having to be represented by Mudavadi, the two have a very cordial working relationship, a respectful one," said the source around State House who sought anonymity.

In the past, the duties assigned by Ruto to Mudavadi had been seen to hint at the president’s favours on Mudavadi as opposed to Gachagua but the DP clarified that he had asked the Head of State to allow him handle the internal matters.

“I have heard people saying that Mudavadi is doing my job. That he is the one going to Nigeria while I have been handed the ordinary jobs of fighting alcohol and drug abuse. I told the president to allow me stay here in Kenya to fight alcoholism and drug abuse,” Gachagua told a church function in June.

He noted that the only trip he will attend should be about resource mobilisation. "If I go to see a new president being sworn in, what do I bring back? I do not need it," he said.

In 1989, former President Moi plucked Mudavadi from the private sector at the age of 29 and picked him as the youngest minister in his cabinet after he won a by-election after his father Moses Mudavadi's death.

By the time Moi retired in 2002, he had picked him as the transition's vice president, albeit briefly before Kanu suffered his first loss of election.

During the Moi government, Mudavadi served for 14 years in the Cabinet serving as Minister for Supplies and Marketing, Finance and Transport and Communication.