CORRIDORS OF POWER

Just why has KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion suddenly gone silent on the implementation of the controversial competency-based curriculum (CBC)? This is the question that some teachers were last week overheard asking themselves during a workshop at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). The combative KNUT boss has been vocal in calling for the suspension of the CBC. arguing that it is being hurried. However, he has not commented on the subject for the past one month despite heightened activities by the Ministry of Education to ensure successful implementation of the new curriculum. One of the teachers claimed that the SG could have been beaten into submission by the no-nonsense Education CS George Magoha.

 The family of a former prominent managing director is on the spot. Why? The wife and the daughter of the retired MD, both working in similar departments but in separate government entities, are now awarding contracts to a consulting firm owned by the family. The former MD runs the consulting firm, dealing mainly in human resources. The offices of the firm are located in one of Nairobi’s leafy estates, next to a prominent mall. Those in the know say the family has disregarded all the rules in the book, irregularly awarding tenders in what amounts to a clear conflict of interest. When detectives come knocking, will anyone say they are being targeted? Corridors will tell you more about this mess.

 Just who will put to end this unbecoming habit of state officers insisting on taking bribes to enable Kenyans to access government services or get jobs? Well, some officers at the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics must be students of this retrogressive behaviour. There are suggestions that the lot, attached to a county in Nyanza, have been demanding as much as Sh20,000 from applicants seeking ICT and Content Supervisor jobs for the national census slated for August. A number of those approached whisper to Corridors that apart from the demand for cash, the officers have exported members of their community to take part in the counting, taking up slots meant for locals.

 Could it be that a lawmaker, who recently ran into trouble with investigative agencies, has been warming up to another political faction, hence, his arrest? Corridors is informed that the legislator had been on the agencies’ radar but seemed to enjoy a good political standing with the powers that be. The moment the fellow changed or rather showed signs of jumping ship to another growing political movement, shackles followed. The legislator is now battling to prove his innocence of the crimes he is accused of.