Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi, also known by the nickname “MaDVD” was born on 21 September 1960, Sabatia, Vihiga division, in the formerly bigger Kakamega District. He is the privileged young son of the former education officer, the late Moses Budamba Mudavadi.
His father later became to be a very powerful figure in the former president Moi’s cabinet, holding a lucrative ministerial position.
He is one of the Kenyan politicians who served in the Moi regime in 2002 as the seventh Vice President of Kenya. From 2008- 2012, MaDVD was Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister until he officially resigned to vie for the presidential seat.
Currently, Mudavadi is the Party Leader of one of the constituent parties of the NASA movement called Amani National Congress (ANC). He founded this party after quitting the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Before decamping from ODM, he was the part’s deputy party leader.
Musalia Mudavadi Personal Life History
Born and brought up in a Quaker family, MaDVD comes from the ethnic Maragoli Sub-Tribe of the populous Luhya community.
Apart from his late father, Mudavadi happens to be the only politician in the country who doesn’t swear oaths of office since it’s forbidden by his faith.
Some political analysts believe that it’s because of his staunch Quaker background that he almost portrays himself as a laidback and naive player in the vibrant political environment in Kenya.
Worldwide, Quaker faithful are known to be respected and honest people because of their pacificism, firm devotion to speaking the truth at any given time.
They are also known for their use of plain language, plain dressing, and aversion to violence and war. For that reason, Mudavadi cannot swear an oath in office because doing so is admitting the opposite from what his faith teaches.
In his prime age, MaDVD participated in numerous sport activities including playing rugby union. In fact, he once played for the notorious Mean Machine RFC.
Musalia Mudavadi Education Background
Not much is documented about MaDVD’s primary and secondary education other than being a graduate with a degree in land economics from the University of Nairobi.
Musalia Mudavadi Family
Musalia Mudavadi is a married to one wife, Tessie Shaghatti Mudavadi. They are blessed with three children, two sons namely Michael Mudavadi and Moses Mudavadi and one daughter called Maryanne Mudavadi.
He is the son to the late Hannah Mudavadi and Moses Mudavadi.
Musalia Mudavadi Professional Career
Upon graduating from the University of Nairobi with an undergraduate degree in land economics, Musalia started practicing his profession as a land economist.
It was during this moment that he was persuaded to fill the vacancy left by the death of his father, a veteran politician in the KANU and Moi regime, Moses Budamba Mudavadi as a Member of Parliament for Sabatia Constituency.
Musalia Mudavadi Political Experience
MaDVD first joined the Kenyan parliament on a KANU ticket in 1989 as MP for Sabatia Constituency following the demise of Moses Mudavadi, his father.
He was in good relationship with the then president Moi as a continuity to the robust contact he had with his late father whom he saw as a responsible person for delivering larger support from the Luhya region for his authoritative regime.
As a result, he was appointed to a minister in charge of the ministry of Supplies and Marketing. In his comeback in 1992 as a member of parliament, he was again appointed as a Minister to head the lucrative ministry of Finance. He held this position from early 1993 to late 1997.
Like said before, Mudavadi first tested the political waters in Kenya at a younger age of 29 years in 1989.
But, the big political breakthrough for MaDVD came in 1989 when he was appointed by the then president Moi as a minister in the ministry of Supplies and Marketing the same year he entered parliament.
But, being 29 years only and due to his lack of experience, he failed to make any meaningful impact in this docket.
It was after the general elections held in the country in 1992 that Mudavadi was appointed to lead the lucrative ministry of Finance.
At the prime age of 57 years now, Mudavadi played a background role in NASA in the past August general elections in Kenya.
However, before then, he served in the grand coalition government as one of the two deputy prime ministers. He shortly served in the Moi regime as deputy president in 2002.
In 2002 presidential elections, MaDVD was the running mate for the KANU presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta in 2002. In 2007, he was the running mate of ODM’s presidential candidate, Raila Odinga.
He graduated in 1984 with an undergraduate degree in land economics, and five years later, he was appointed to fill the vacancy left after the death of his in 1989 an MP for Sabatia Constituency.
Mudavadi is a married person with three children. He likes watching action films and playing rugby and football.
When he was a rugby player in the University, MaDVD was nicknamed “Phantom.” Recently, rebranded himself as “Messi,” the name of the popular Argentinean soccer player. His critics refer to him as a “project.”
Musalia Mudavadi Wealth
You can trace wealth in the extended family of Mudavadi to the long period of his father, the late Moses Mudavadi, who served for many years as a powerful local government minister in the Moi regime. Mudavadi, the father was also a close friend of the then president, Moi.
It did not take long after Moi took over the government was the deceased president Jomo Kenyatta in 1979 for him to appoint Moses Mudavadi to the cabinet.
The senior Mudavadi took advantage of being close to Moi after playing an integral role in having him clinch the nomination in the Legislative Assembly during the colonial period in the 1950s to position himself economically and politically.
The elder Mudavadi was popular for being a generous man and frequently hosted mammoth of goodwill delegations in the 1980s at his home in Mululu, Kakamega. The delegates came from all corners of Luhyaland.
It was during such visits that the pocket of each member of the delegation protruded after receiving a present from the King of Mululu. The senior Moses Mudavadi got a nickname because of his political connection and influence in the whole region of Western Province.
It is from this history that you can say that MaDVD inherited a lot of wealth from his father long before he started minting his own millions of money.
His family was a beneficiary of old money already before the young Mudavadi’s wealth started expanding.
While at Treasury as a minister, MaDVD enjoyed a robust relationship with established businessmen and Wheeler dealers in the world of business.
During this process, he acquired essential trade tips on how to remain relevant in the complex and ruthless contemporary world of business.
MaDVD further had an extremely good rapport with Joshua Kulei, a dealmaker and former personal assistant to the former president, Moi. There are rumors that during this time, the two ventured into some business deals.
To cut the story short, Mudavadi is estimated to worth millions of shillings.
Musalia Mudavadi Net Worth
Economic and finance experts approximate the wealth of MaDVD and his family to be in hundreds of millions of Kenya shillings.
He has business interests in many sectors including in property investment, banking, city residential houses, and insurance among other sectors. The Mululu home of Musalia located in Kakamega is also estimated to be worth millions of Kenya shillings.
Musalia Mudavadi Contacts
The physical address of Mudavadi is Parliament Buildings, Parliament Rd.
If you wish to send any letter or parcel to him, you can use:
P.O Box 41842 – 00100
Nairobi, Kenya.
His telephone number is 020 4450929
Your email can be sent via Sabatia@parliament.go.ke on official communication and through info@musaliamudavadi.com on personal and another kind of interaction.
He has two known mobile numbers: 0733335522 and 0722527614.
You can also find him on Twitter through https: Mudavadi on Twitter
The Facebook account is https: Mudavadi on Facebook
Musalia Mudavadi Integrity and Scandals
The integrity of MaDVD, just like any other long-serving politician in Kenya is questionable. There are published documentation in the public domain linking him to a chain of corruption scandals during his tenure in office.
These alleged disgraces put to question the credibility of Mudavadi as an honest leader whom many people in Kenya, particularly in his western region are depending on to help bring positive change in the entire country.
The report published by a research group based in Paris called Centre d’Etudes et Recherches (CERI), MaDVD was named as one of the prominent Kenyan politicians who was claimed to have a link to two Asian groups of businessmen by the nickname, the “G7”.
These traders enjoyed monopoly status in Kenyan contracts during his time as Finance minister.
This 1998 report further alleged that the then Attorney General Amos Wako and Mudavadi, both coming from the Luhya ethnic extract from Western Province helped to protect and facilitate the interests of Mr. Haten Singh Bishar.
This businessman was accused of enjoying monopoly position when it comes to winning contracts that were allocated in Western Kenya.
The paper also says that he worked with another well-known corruption guru in the Kenyan government such as former Energy Minister who the report claim was at the forefront of Harbinder Singh Sethi of spearheading and protecting the monopoly status of this other businessman to contracts awarded by the then Ministry of Energy.
Also mentioned powerful cabinet minister in this scandal was the late Mr. Nicholas Kipyator arap Biwott.
Others questionable government transactions where MaDVD was connected to include the famous Anglo-Leasing saga. It’s a scandal that resurfaced and haunted the Kibaki regime as well.
