• An MP on a crucial parliamentary committee is secretly meeting parastatal chiefs under probe.
• A governor from a northern counties runs business from a lavish office is Nairobi.
Have financial taps dried up for a key movement associated with lawmakers opposed to Deputy President William Ruto’s 2022 presidential ambitions? A member of Team Kielekwe — the politicians opposing Ruto — have confided to Corridors that they are reeling from 'adverse budget cuts'. This is after a senior government official based along Harambee Avenue reportedly withdrew funding for the group. This has thrown the group into disarray. It is not clear why the official withheld financing but a small bird whispers that intelligence officers could have advised against facilitating the group. Two Jubilee MPs had been tasked to collect the weekend worship facilitation fee every Friday evening before embarking on Sunday church services to taunt Ruto.
A governor from one of the northern counties runs the affairs of his county by remote control. With a lavish office in Nairobi’s Kilimani area, the governor has brought a couple of county staff from his drought-stricken county to work from the ‘satellite’ office in Nairobi. It is not clear why the county chief is operating from Nairobi at the expense of the taxpayers, even when thousands of his residents are starving due to the raging drought. According to some of his allies, the governor flies to the semi-arid county once a month but most of his operations, including chairing cabinet meetings, happening in Nairobi. Isn’t this a classic manifestation of blatant misuse of public resources? Many residents’ are looking to Auditor General Edward Ouko’s reports to see if the matter will be flagged out.
A close aide of Deputy President William Ruto eyeing a parliamentary seat in his home county has fallen out of favour with his boss over his unbecoming behaviour. The aide is accused of leaking strategic information to the DP’s detractors, especially about his weekend itineraries against a policy that they should be kept under wraps. The official is said to have received a tongue-lashing from the DP a few days after a crucial event in Kakamega county, surprisingly attended by opposition lawmakers. The aide is said to have tipped an opposition MP that Ruto was to tour the county against strategic advice that the DP’s attendance would be kept secret until the last minute. The Nasa-affiliate MP whipped a number of his colleagues to attend the function in what complicated the DP’s messaging strategy.
An MP who sits in a crucial parliamentary committee could soon find himself in trouble. The MP has been clandestinely meeting some top parastatal chiefs under probe by the committee, lifting the lid on his behind-the-scenes deal-cutting manoeuvres. The MP allied to ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga has booked a private room at a hotel next to Parliament Buildings where he holds meetings with witnesses scheduled to appear before his panel. While this is clearly against Standing Orders, the lawmaker is apparently on a deal-making spree that could compromise the mandate of the crucial committee. Those close to him say the man walks with wads of dollars.