Corridors of Power

Monday, 21 March 2011 00:02 BY POLITICAL DESK

Are ODM leaders scared of Raila Odinga?  A senior Cabinet Minister, known to be very close to the PM and sometimes is not afraid to speak his mind, whispered to Corridors of Power that a number of colleagues literally fear Raila and would not dare correct him even if  they see him go wrong. The minister said part of the reason the PM has been making political mistakes is because some of those expected to advice him do not have the courage to tell the PM the truth.
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Will ODM back former Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale in the forth coming by-election? We are told that some ODM members are pushing the party to support Khalwale instead of fielding its own candidate.  Those in the know tell us that the reason for backing Khalwale is because the bull fighter has previously backed ODM in Parliament and supporting him now would be a great way of paying him back. Question is will Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi accept such a deal considering that he does not quite get along with Khalwale?
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Fred Gumo, the maverick Westlands MP, has quietly sacked the entire management of Tana River Development Authority. The Regional Development Minister was apparently unhappy with the way management was doing things, and has now asked the board to quickly advice him on the way forward. Question is why hasn’t anyone made noise about this drastic action by the minister?
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One of the politician’s angling himself for the 2012 presidency is the biggest loser in the ongoing debacle in Libya. The presidential hopeful has in the last few years or so established good contacts in Libya which saw quite some chunk of the oil cash channeled to his party accounts. We are told that during a recent by-election, the politician’s candidate was handed a cool Sh40 million from the Arab country which was spent in the campaigns. Now we hear the politician, who had hoped to mount a serious campaign in 2012, is spending sleepless nights praying that Gaddafi does not lose out because his presidential ambitions could be dealt a major blow.