• Is there more than meets the eye in Governor Granton Samboja’s move to dissolve the Taita Taveta county government?
• Ministry officials worried they may lose their doctorates.
Image: FILE
HIGH Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi's ruling barring charged governors from accessing office may have just opened a Pandora's box. A deputy governor from Nyanza is apparently warming up against his boss, who is under siege but has not been charged. The man was overheard bragging at a city hotel, to anyone who cared to listen, that he could take over from the governor very soon. The deputy said the governor's prosecution is imminent and he would want to get an opportunity to be boss, even for a day. Could Ngugi's ruling be the poisoned chalice that triggers a fresh round of squabbles between governors and their deputies? The days ahead should be exciting.
THE Commission for University Education report calling for a review of PhD programmes is causing jitters in government. Sources whisper to Corridors that government officials, including a senior officer in the Ministry of Education’s quality assurance, are among recipients of the doubtful degrees. Others are in the Education ministry's human resource department. The high-ranked officials rushed to acquire the papers with the hope of securing promotions and moving up the job groups ladder. Now uncertainty clouds their future should the review recommend some of the doctorates be nullified. This could not only complicate their career plans but also mean losses after spending millions to acquire academic qualifications.
IS there more than meets the eye in Governor Granton Samboja’s bid to dissolve the Taita Taveta government? An MCA has claimed that the county chief’s reasons for calling for the disbandment of the devolved unit do not hold water. The ward representative, who is a member of the assembly's Budget committee, said the county assembly's refusal to allow the governor to spend fuel levy to buy road construction equipment is the genesis of the problem. He said the money was for the maintenance of roads and not for buying graders and machines. Samboja has already collected more than 40,000 signatures and is preparing to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the county.
TRAPPINGS of power are indeed transient. This is what a senior politician facing a corruption charge seems to have learnt if his latest moves are anything to go by. The man, having been declared persona non grata in some parts of his constituency, has been making desperate efforts to get to the banned places — at times with the flimsy excuse of collecting his complimentary newspapers. The politician, among the first victims of the ruling barring state officers from accessing their offices, could soon be in trouble with the authorities for breaking the court order.