•Was the directive by Interior CS Fred Matiang'i that order be restored in Kenyans roads just a public relations stunt?
•A committee chairman in the National Assembly has become the talk among his colleagues over open biasness when dealing with witnesses
Was the directive by Interior CS Fred Matiang'i that order be restored in Kenyans roads just a public relations stunt? Last year, Matiang'i instructed the police and the NTSA to rid matatu stages of criminal young posing as stage managers. But the transport industry cartels seem to be in total control. Matatus do not comply with the Michuki rules. All PSVs are required to install seat belts, have a yellow line and carry the authorised number of passengers only. As if that is not enough, touts who had been kicked out of stages are now back in full swing. The ramshackle Land Rovers common in city roundabouts are still in business yet the CS had ordered that they be replaced with appropriate flat-bed towing vehicles.
A committee chairman in the National Assembly has become the talk among his colleagues over the open biases with which he treats witnesses who appear before the committee. The chairman, whose committee is currently questioning a number of agencies to ensure they comply with the law, is reported to mobilise the media aggressively whenever the invited agency is suspected to have hired few members of his ethnic community. Disgruntled committee members believe their chairman takes a very short time questioning executives and senior civil servants who seem to have favoured his community in jobs. In such sessions, the media is rarely invited and the whole session wrapped up in record time.
And still on matters to do with Parliament, this week the Senate Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights is set to meet representatives from Kenya School of Law (KSL) and the Council for Legal Education (CLE) over mass failures in the bar examination. The exam is set by CLE and administered by KSL and the successful students then petition the Chief Justice to be admitted to the bar as advocates of the High Court. The committee is chaired by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei. However, representatives from the two government institutions are wondering whether Cherargei is the right man for the job. Reason? He is believed to be one of the many affected by the poor results. Could this be a clear case of conflict of interest?
A member of a county assembly in Eastern region is in big trouble. His fellow MCAs have told Corridors that the youthful member, who is a former aide to a political heavyweight, might be suffering from depression as he is now spending most of his time in dingy bars. Unable to handle his social media critics online, the MCA prefers physical confrontations with critics he bumps into in public. Last week, he attacked a Facebook user outside the county procurement office and rushed to report to the police that he had been attacked. Friends of the Facebook user, have now formed a blog as a platform to question the MCA who has been overheard saying that he will commit suicide if he doesn't get re-elected.