Kalonzo Musyoka - 2002-2007 Kenyan Parliament

2002-2007 Kenyan Parliament

In the months leading up to the 2002 general election, under the leadership of then KANU secretary general, Raila Odinga, he decamped from KANU to join the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as a founding member under the banner of the National Rainbow Coalition, which went on to win the general elections.

On December 1st, 2003, as the Minister for home affairs and international cooperation for Kenya, he welcomed the people to this meeting, whose theme was Strengthening the role of IGAD in regional peace initiatives and post conflict reconstruction on behalf of the republic of Kenya and thanked the Danish government, IGAD Secretariat and the ISS on behalf of the IGAD Member States for their preparations and funding of the meeting.Kalonzo Musyoka was involved in the Sudan peace process between 1993 - 1997 and he was part of the team that reconstituted the draft establishing IGAD in 1995.

Musyoka became Minister for Foreign Affairs for a second time under President Mwai Kibaki, but in a cabinet reshuffle on June 30, 2004 he was moved to the post of Minister for the Environment. In late August 2004, he was additionally removed from his position as chairman of the Sudanese and Somali peace talks and was replaced by John Koech. Musyoka was reportedly unhappy with President Kibaki's refusal to honour a pre-election Memorandum of understanding (MOU) which they had signed with the president's party NAK. He was one of the leaders of the successful "No"-campaign in the November 2005 referendum on the proposed new constitution. Following the referendum, he was dismissed from the Cabinet.

Subsequently Kalonzo Musyoka decamped Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) into the little known Labor Party of Kenya.

Kalonzo Musyoka was widely expected to vie for the presidency in the December 2007 election. Musyoka campaigned for the ODM-Kenya ticket, facing a number of other contenders. His rating for December 2007 election steadily dropped, and political analysts wondered whether he would make a significant impact. His relationship with fellow ODM-Kenya leader Raila Odinga, who was also after the ODM-Kenya presidential ticket, was the subject of much speculation. Many observers questioned whether the presidential hopefuls of ODM-Kenya, particularly Raila and Musyoka, could unite to support one common candidate for the general election.

The ODM-Kenya split into two factions, one gathered around Musyoka and the other around Odinga, in August 2007. Musyoka was elected by his faction as its presidential candidate on August 31, 2007, receiving 2,835 votes in a secret ballot against Julia Ojiambo, who received 791 votes.

Musyoka has been quoted as saying "... the war against poverty could not be won unless environmental issues were addressed."

Musyoka launched his presidential campaign at Uhuru Park in Nairobi on October 14, 2007. This move was criticized by those who saw him as a traitor to the ODM party of Raila Odinga. Kalonzo however said that "atapitia katikati" (passing between two people).