CORRIDORS OF POWER

If there is a man on bended knee praying fervently, it must be a county executive member in a South Rift county. His prayers have nothing to do with going to Heaven or for good health but rather to his gods that they may ward off the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission under the leadership of Twalib Mbarak. A source says that the man has all over sudden amassed a lot of wealth. The executive, who heads a finance docket, has bought properties in major towns in South Rift, the latest being a palatial bungalow. Will the sleuths sniff out this and carry out a lifestyle audit on the official?  Well, only time will tell.

And still in Rift Valley, an MP from the region amused his colleagues at a city hotel on Wednesday evening by narrating how he is now too broke to afford the life he had in the run-up to the August 2017 general elections. He left the colleagues in stitches by telling them he was now living hand to mouth existence compared to the campaign period when he carried up to Sh200 million in the boot of his car. He even went ahead to “spill the beans”: a second-term MP also from Rift Valley, who was also in the evening chit chat, was so scared to “freely scoop” some of the money. “I was so scared because I didn't know the source of the millions. I told myself, let me just pick Sh50,000, an amount I can pay back should the owner come calling,” the MP said amid laughter.

Senators were last week shocked after a Cabinet Secretary openly disagreed with them on powers of the committee to be equal to that of the High Court. The Senate team came up with that narrative to intimidate the CS who was proving to be difficult at the initial stages of the crucial committee sitting. As the House team chairman underscored the powers the committee wields over witnesses, the CS interjected firmly: "Mmmmh, Really? I don't think so", throwing the senators off guard.

A governor has not only become the talk of the moment but a concern among his colleagues at the Council of Governors. Those in the know have told Corridors that the county boss has only attended one full CoG meeting and since then, the man has stayed away from the council meetings and events. He has never bothered to even send an apology when he misses the meeting. Could it be that the governor belittles the activities of CoG? According to the source, his fellow governors think so.