•Senior City Hall officer in panic.
•A former governor on EACC radar.
Image: FILE
Is the government broke? This could be true if what is happening in some ministries and agencies is anything to go by. Employees at the Tourism ministry are yet to be paid their April salaries. The March salaries of Kenya Forest Service staff were delayed by more than a month. The institutions are pointing an accusing figure at National Treasury CS Henry Rotich. An employee of the Tourism ministry said they have given Rotich until Monday to release money or they will down their tools.
A one-term MP from Nyanza has shocked many with their impunity and disregard for the law. The lawmaker has employed close relatives to critical positions, with two of them as signatories to a key account. Another relative was awarded a tender to renovate an office space, pocketing millions of shillings. Residents are inviting the EACC to investigate the legislator who got elected after losing several elections.
A former Jubilee governor from Rift Valley is on the radar of EACC sleuths. This after it emerged that the former county boss recently acquired a multibillion-shilling residential building in an upmarket estate in Nairobi. The sleuths, according to an insider, have been observing the former governor for some time now. They now believe that the building was acquired using money looted from public coffers during his time in office. The investigators are piecing together the evidence before they summon the former powerful county boss to Integrity Centre for questioning.
Still on matters corruption. Are EACC detectives planning more arrests at City Hall? Panic has gripped senior City Hall officers following the recent arrest and release of acting county secretary Pauline Kahiga. Corridors understands that the officers are working in fear of being arrested over a corruption scandal at the county headquarters. The detectives have been hanging around the county officers, questioning officers over the irregular award of tenders. Sources say investigators are finalising the probe, which could lead to the arrest of more county officers.
Just why have MCAs from some counties been accompanying their governors to the Senate for grilling over audit queries? This is the million-dollar question that some members of a Senate oversight committee were overhead asking themselves after questioning a governor last week. The county boss was accompanied by more than 10 MCAs. Some of them even asked for an opportunity to defend their governor. MCAs' primary roles are to oversight the governors and ensure the funds disbursed to the counties are well spent. It was therefore baffling to see the MCAs accompany, and worse still, attempt to defend their governors against the damning auditor’s report.