ODM governors fear Obado's fate could befall them

Are some ODM governors unhappy with the way the Raila Odinga-led party is handling their embattled colleague from Migori, Okoth Obado (pictured? Well, some MPs from Nyanza were heard talking in low tones about some governors from the region who are silently supporting Obado. One of the lawmakers said that the county bosses have been bankrolling the Migori county chief to entice the MCAs to resist pressure from the party to have him impeached. According to the MPs, the governors’ fear Obado’s fate might also befall them, particularly at this time when the anti-graft agency is said to have trained its guns on some of them over graft allegations.

Panic has gripped witnesses in a mega corruption case involving a governor. The witnesses, most of the contractors and suppliers in the county, have been lined up to testify against the county boss in the case. However, some of the witnesses are said to be planning to withdraw their testimony even after the prosecution offered to protect them. Corridors understands the governor has compiled an eight-hour recording of his conversations with the witnesses. In the recording, according to those in the know, the witnesses are heard negotiating with the governor and promising to bribe him to be awarded lucrative county tenders. The controversial award of the tenders is at the centre of the case.

A second-term MP in Nairobi is in trouble with a group of land cartels in his constituency. Reason? The ODM legislator has fenced off more than five acres of public land that has been controlled by the lot, part of it already sold to unsuspecting buyers. The buyers’ properties, some residential flats, are all within the fence awaiting demolition. According to the MP's handlers, he wants the structures flattened to make room for constructing a modern hospital using CDF cash. The irked cartels have vowed to frustrate the plans and have threatened to hire goons to bring down any structures the MP will put up on the parcel.

Still in Nairobi, an MCA in the capital is giving an MP a run for his money. The ward representative has set his sights on the parliamentary seat and has hit the road running. Recently, he spent a week distributing relief food to residents in all the five wards. He also gave out cash to more than 10,000 residents. This came days after the MP ran into trouble with some residents who had accused him of abandoning them in their hour of need. The angry MPs is now planning to petition the EACC to investigate the source of funds by the Jubilee MCA.