Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Musalia Mudavadi has been thrust at the centre of the impending Malava parliamentary by-election in which he is expected to deliver the area’s new MP to the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition.

Last month, the recently re-constituted Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) set November 27 as the date for the long-awaited by-elections across the country.

The electoral agency’s announcement triggered a dash by aspirants hankering to succeed the late Moses Malulu Injendi as the next Malava Member of Parliament (MP).

Much of the focus has, however, been placed on Mudavadi who is considered as Western Kenya’s political supremo and whom the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition is heavily relying on to deliver the Malava seat, together with Higher Education Principal Secretary Dr. Beatrice Inyangala and President William Ruto’s personal assistant Farouk Kibet who too have been visible in the Government side’s stakeout.

Mudavadi’s Herculean task has been compounded by the death of the leading aspirant from the ruling coalition Dr. Enock Andanje Musambai three weeks ago, a former Principal of Bungoma High School.

Malulu passed away on February 17, this year after a short illness.

The third-term legislator was re-elected in 2022 on the ticket of Amani National Congress (ANC), a party then led by Mudavadi, the more reason why so much premium is being placed on the former Deputy Prime Minister and one time Vice-President.

ANC has since folded and merged with President Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA). 

Shortly after Malulu’s death, Farouk and Inyangala became frequent faces in Malava pushing the case for Kenya Kwanza in the impending by-election.

However, Mudavadi stepped to take the stage mid-July and has since been holding strategic meetings both at the constituency level and in his Nairobi office at the Kenya Railways headquarters.

In July, he presided over a women’s empowerment fundraiser in Malava where he admonished the politics of immediate former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his local supporters. 

Later the same month, Mudavadi held separate meetings in his office between leaders of the 29 clans from the area, officials of teachers’ unions and Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs).

Mudavadi, who is also the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs and a former Minister for Finance, moved to hold a brainstorming session with over 4000 teachers from Malava at Tande High School before returning to Nairobi for consultations with women leaders from the constituency and back to Malava to meet 2000 boda boda riders.

In all those sessions, Mudavadi is accompanied by Inyangala and other government appointees from the constituency as well as Vihiga Woman Representative Dr. Beatrice Adagala and Shinyalu MP Fred Ikana, both who are drawn from ANC

The race to replace Malulu has intensified since Andanje’s death with contending parties seeking to outsmart each other, with much of the attention targeting Mudavadi and his Kenya Kwanza coalition.

Former Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malalah who is the Deputy Party Leader of the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) has maintained persistent presence in the constituency to campaign for his candidate, lawyer Edgar Busiega Mwanga, with much of his speeches remaining pointed attacks on Ruto and Mudavadi.

Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya together with his now controversy-ridden Democratic Alliance Party of Kenya (DAP-K) senior members have also visited the area once to pitch for their candidate, Seth Panyako, the vocal secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN).

The Roots Party candidate Caleb Sunguti, a management consultant and former senior lecturer at the Kenya School of Government, has consistently been on the ground for the last six months.

Unlike Sunguti who has so far staged a clean campaign devoid of high drama and insults, Malalah and Natembeya, while campaigning for their candidates, have persistently directed their barbs at Mudavadi, Farouk and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, all who they term as strangers in the area who should not be allowed to dictate how the people of Malava vote.

At the burial ceremony of Andanje last week, Malalah was dressed down by an irate Mudavadi who accused the former area Senator of conducting cheap primitive politics vouched in drama, populism and falsehoods.

Mudavadi lashed out at Malalah after the former arrived at the funeral venue very late with blaring music to disrupt the event and later – when given a chance to address the mourners – took on President Ruto and Mudavadi, forcing the organisers to switch off his microphone.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary accused Malalay of being disrespectful to the President who went out of his way to fund his unsuccessful bid for Kakamega Governorship and peddling lies regarding the closure of St. Mary’s Mumias Mission Hospital.

In his engagements, Mudavadi has repeatedly called on the Malava electorate to settle for a credible, morally upright and visionary leader who espouses integrity and national unity

His lieutenants led by former ANC national chairman and now UDA vice-chairman, Kelvin Lunani, Adagala, Ikana and lawyer Nick Biketi have maintained that the Malava by-election is a major litmus test for Mudavadi.

Argued Lunani: “Everyone in Kenya is watching the Malava by-election keenly. The outcome of the vote will have a huge impact on Mudavadi. Malulu was Mudavadi’s MP. It would therefore be a stab in the back if Malava people were to vote in someone from another political party.”

So far, only five candidates have secured party tickets on which to run.

They are Busiega, Panyako, Caleb Sunguti of Roots Party and Samuel Tsimbelwa Wesukari of UDP and Joab Manyasi of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA).

Another quartet is still battling it out for the UDA ticket after Andanje’s death with party nomination set for September 20.

They are Malulu’s son Ryan Injendi, lawyer Leonard Shimaka, ex-Kivaywa High School Principal Simon Kangwana, and West Kabras Member of County Assembly (MCA) David Ndakwa.