• Peter Kenneth positioning himself as President Uhuru Kenyatta's heir-apparent in central Kenya.
• Some MPs have reportedly been tasked to groom and prime him in readiness to fit into Uhuru's large shoes when he leaves office in 2022.
Image: FILE
Is former presidential candidate Peter Kenneth positioning himself as President Uhuru Kenyatta's heir-apparent in central Kenya? Well, while Uhuru's succession battle has kicked off in earnest right in his own backyard some MPs have reportedly been tasked to groom and prime him in readiness to fit into Uhuru's large shoes when he leaves office in 2022. Corridors of Power is aware that politicians pushing for Kenneth have mobilised resources to criss-cross central Kenya in the coming months to prepare the ground. Although Kenneth has not announced his political ambitions his latest moves point to a bigger ballgame in the offing.
A member of Parliament from the Coast with close links to a senior State House official is in the eye of a storm after it emerged that he is clandestinely behind a scheme to privatise the second container terminal at the Mombasa port. The MP has been fingered by his colleagues as being the hatchet man for well-connected politicians and business moguls pushing for the takeover of the facility. There are claims that millions could have exchanged hands as the cabal pushes for their interests. Corridors of Power is informed that some more cash has been dispatched to compromise and soften the hearts of more liberal MPs from the region opposed to the privatisation plan. We are told this is a ticking time bomb and that it is a matter of time before the project explodes in the face of the cartels at the heart of the bid.
Even with the drought and hunger afflicting Kenyans in large parts of the country, a cartel of businessmen is mopping up hundreds of tonnes of cereals, especially beans, for export. Corridors of Power has learnt that South Sudanese businessmen have ordered over one hundred 40-foot container trucks of beans scheduled to cross the border through Malaba and Busia through Uganda. Brokers are busy buying all the beans they can find across the country for their South Sudanese buyers as government officials watch. What will starving Kenyans eat when the government finally wakes up from the slumber?
Just what is happening in Eastleigh and some parts of Eastlands under the watch of Shauri Moyo police station? A small bird whispers that the transfer of all police officers from the police station early this year may have been instigated by unscrupulous businessmen and senior police officers running a contraband goods racket. Following the removal of the hawk-eyed officers who had on several occasions busted the criminals for smuggling of illicit goods, the unscrupulous traders are now actively engaged in their vice now that they have ‘friendly’ personnel policing the area at the expense of national security. The action has elicited discontent among junior officers who loathe what befell their colleagues who were transferred in a huff to allegedly protect business interests.