NASA principals Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetang'ula, Isaac Rutto, Musalia Mudavadi and Raila Odinga when they announced their presidential flag bearer at Uhuru Park, April 27, 2017. /REUTERS
NASA principals (From left to right) Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetangula, Isaac Ruto, Musalia Mudavadi and Raila Odinga in Uhuru park.


If there is a politician in the Kenyan political landscape, who has made a mighty comeback in the recent past, then it must be one Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi, a.k.a Madvd.

Not only is NASA (the now unstoppable opposition phenomenon) his brainchild, but he has also been playing all the right political cards lately. Politics is simply a game of perceptions.


By appearing to shelf his presidential ambitions and handing over the NASA outfit to Raila Odinga, in one fell swoop, he pulled a political masterstroke that has positioned him as a serious presidential contender after 2022.


Mudavadi knew that the NASA idea would be dead on arrival, had he not moved with speed to convince Raila to own it (remember Raila got more Luhya votes than Mudavadi, in 2013). Now Mudavadi is strategically poised to inherit Raila’s legion of followers in Nyanza and Western Kenya after 2022.


For a man who in 2012 came across as the most inept and rudderless politician in Kenya, when Uhuruto seriously humiliated him and ended up labelling him a “saitani” in what is popularly known as the “Madimoni saga,” Mudavadi’s recent political comeback can be attributed to pure smart politics.


There is no doubt that NASA is set to sweep the badly deflated Jubilee out of power on August 8th this year. Jubilee promised people nirvana and delivered hell instead. They promised Kenyans fish and handed them a snake!


The cost of living that has shot through the roof under Jubilee’s watch is enough to send them packing on 8/8. No amount of PR and scapegoats can convince Kenyans that the current high cost of living and economic woes don’t have a direct connection with the blatant corruption and thoughtless borrowing by the Jubilee gov’t.


Apparently, Jubilee banked on two wishes: That NASA disintegrates through their supposed weak link – Kalonzo or Raila fails to become its flagbearer. Forget about Jubilee’s reverse psychology antics that they really wanted to face Raila because he is beatable. Raila has beaten them before and they know how hard he hits. And it turns out that they badly underestimated Kalonzo.


This is how reverse psychology works. Ask your enemy to give you what you really dread he might unleash, then your enemy moves to disappoint you by giving you something else! The endgame is, he does exactly what you wished for.


Unfortunately, none of the two Jubilee wishes came to pass. This explains the panic mode in government after a United and even bigger NASA endorsed Raila as its presidential flag bearer on April 27th.


The unwarranted attack on the Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation, immediately after, was the clearest manifestation of a massive panic in a cornered Jubilee regime.


Now Uhuruto must be recoiling every time they see Madvd rumble, “Nasa haooo.” Is it payback time for Mudavadi? I think being the gentleman he is, Madvd will not revenge. Remember gentlemen don’t revenge, they return favours.


Each time Madvd says “NASA hawaa,” you exactly know who he is talking about. He says it with a lot of relish in his voice. The man is just out to return a small favour that Uhuruto did to him in 2012/13 when they called him a “saitani” or “Madimoni.”


When NASA finally takes over power after 8/8, and Raila Amolo Odinga becomes the 5th president of independent Kenya, Madvd will have fully returned the favour to Uhuruto and effectively become the heir apparent of Raila’s solid political base.








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