CORRIDORS OF POWER

Was Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko's ban on boda bodas in the Central Business District just a public relations exercise? The two-wheelers are back, some operating with impunity, bragging they are untouchable. This bewilders some helpless county askaris. They ride on the wrong side, shove pedestrians from the walkways and some are used to snatch phones and handbags in broad daylight. Many people are asking if the band was informed by any policy and how was the county going to sustain the ban — or was the governor just playing to the gallery?

A female MP from Nyanza whose constituency is on the spot over massive misappropriation of public funds, according to Auditor General Edward Ouko, on Thursday stunned journalists at Parliament’s media centre. She stormed the journalists' only space, shouting herself hoarse, throwing a tantrum and hurling unprintable insults at scribes for writing a story that appeared to have touched a raw nerve. The MP, who is no stranger to controversy, realised that her target was not present. She vowed swore to physically teach the reporter the lesson of his lifetime. The lawmaker, in the middle of her hysteria, implicated a fellow MP — they do not see eye to eye — from her county. She claimed he sponsored the story that was widely shared on WhatsApp and Facebook platforms in her constituency.

Are police accomplices in the gold scam? A little bird whispers to Corridors that most gold scammers have senior police officers on speed dial to bail them out whenever they are arrested by their juniors. So arrogant have the scammers become that they are now intimidating junior officers as they continue plying their vice without a care in the world. The officers have now vowed to take their cut instead of arresting them only to be let free by their seniors. These should be the first assignment of newly appointed Inspector General of police Hillary Mutyambai.

Just what happened to the multi-billion shilling Information Communication Technology (ICT) project that included automation of revenue at the city-county?  Concerns have been raised that members of the public who seek services at the City Hall cash office queue the whole day to obtain crucial services and are at times subjected to line up in several queues. Some unscrupulous City Hall officials have taken advantage of the crisis and are demanding cash to facilitate the otherwise snail-like process. These were some of the problems the mega ICT project was meant to cure but it appears old habits die hard and with the JamboPay contract ending in a month’s time, the worst is yet to be experienced at the capital city