Moses Wetangula

Moses Francis Masika Wetang'ula (born 13 September 1956), is the current Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, as well as leader of the FORD-Kenya party. He served in the government of Kenya as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2012, and he was Minister for Trade from 2012 to 2013.

Early life and education

Wetangula went to Nalondo Primary School, Busakala secondary school, Teremi Secondary School, and Friends School Kamusinga before being admitted to the University of Nairobi, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree. He was a member of the Board of Directors of ICROSS Kenya from 1989, stepping down when he became Kenya's Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Political career

He was nominated as a

In March 2012, Wetangula was stranded in Bamako, Mali during a coup d'état. He was evacuated after being trapped in his hotel room for several days.^[4]

Shortly after Wetangula's return, Kibaki shuffled his cabinet. Wetangula left his post as Foreign Minister and became the Trade Minister.^[5]

He was elected to the

Wetangula left his ministerial post on 27 October 2010 due to ongoing investigation on his alleged involvement in the Kenyan Tokyo embassy scandal.^[7] It was alleged that instead of accepting free property from the government of Japan for the embassy, 1.6 billion shillings was withheld from the sale of Kenyan property in Nigeria and used to buy a less suitable property.^[8]George Saitoti served as acting foreign minister during Wetangula's absence.

Wetangula was later absolved of the allegations and any wrongdoing by five separate probes and returned to the ministry in August 2011,^[9] though he permanently left the position a few months later to successfully contest for the position of Senator for Bungoma County.

Senate Minority Leader

After winning election to the Senate, Wetangula was selected to serve as Minority Leader of the

Kombo, who was vying on a New Ford Kenya ticket, came second with 81,016 votes followed by independent candidate David Makali and Labour Party of Kenya candidate Bifwoli Wakoli at a distant third and fourth place respectively.

Makali secured 2,155 votes while Wakoli garnered 1,899 votes from a total of 942 polling stations, with a 57 per cent voter turnout.

On 20 March 2018, Wetangula was replaced by Siaya senator James Orengo as Senate Minority leader.

Speaker of The National Assembly

Wetangula retained his Bungoma senate seat in the August 2022 Kenyan general election, winning by a landslide. However, he resigned shortly after from that position in order to vie for the position of the Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya. On 8 September 2022, he contested successfully to become the speaker of the 13th Parliament of Kenya after defeating his only competitor Kenneth Marende. Wetangula had garnered a total of 215 votes against Marende's 130 votes, while he did not attain the requisite 2/3's of the votes cast in order to win in the first round, he was nevertheless elected as speaker since his only competitor Marende withdrew from the repeat election. Wetangula took over from Justin Muturi and became the 8th Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya.

Personal life

Wetangula's father Mzee Dominic Wetangula is a retired teacher in Nalondo,

Moses Wetangula has several wives. The first wife is called Phyllis Wetangula but he does not live with her. Wetangula's Children include his son Fidel Wetangula, Daughter Sheila Wetangula and Tamara Wetangula. He also has other children with his other wives.

References