Image: FILE
Last week we told you how City Hall officials have allowed construction of shanty-like kiosks in Nairobi's Buruburu Phase I. Just over the weekend, the officials from the Inspectorate department are said to have marked the structures for demolition. However, questions have been raised as to why the officials failed to also mark two houses that are not only adjacent to the shanties but are also constructed on a road reserve that has reduced the walkway into a narrow alley. Who at City Hall is protecting the owner of the building that has encroached on the road?
Fear and suspicion have rocked the National Intelligence Service. An informer tells Corridors of Powers that a senior official in the security agency has resorted to intimidation and harassing officers who are not from his community. Those affected are mostly attached to the Counter-Intelligence department and they are said to be heartily disillusioned by their treatment. The officer is said to be removing and transferring those whose reports he doubts. He walks around the office with gusto telling whoever cares to listen that he is "fully in government".
It is just a matter of time before another group of senior officials at a parastatal in the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining are bundled off to court. A source whispers to Corridors that detectives have found evidence linking them to the theft of taxpayers money that runs into billions of shillings. They had thought they would run away and their past bad ways in the state institution would not be traced, but the detectives landed on a huge document that led them to the mega-scandal that will also see a number of board members arrested.
Is a city MP also a victim of the tough economic times being experienced across the country? The youthful lawmaker, according to some of his colleagues, never honours any invitation to contribute to schools and church fundraisers. Corridors yesterday eavesdropped on a conversation between two MPs who were confessing how they have given up on their colleague when it comes to issues where money is involved. “I neighbour him but even if I have serious harambee, I no longer invite him because he will not come,” one MP said.
It is not in doubt that the fight against illicit liquor is ongoing and has been taken seriously by the police. However, bar owners in the city are angry at an emerging trend whereby cops collude with vendors to allow the supply of second-generation drinks. The 'poisonous' drinks are normally sold in the odd hours of the day in an attempt by the vendors to hide the dealings. The concerned authorities: Over to you.