Corridors of Power

Tuesday, 14 June 2011 00:05 BY POLITICAL DESK

Remember William Kirwa? The managing director and CEO of the Agricultural Development Corporation whose appointment by President Kibaki as the budget controller was overturned following protests from among others, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has now pulled a fast one. He is going to run for the presidency. Our wags say the man is being fronted by outsiders keen to diminish Eldoret North MP William Ruto's hold in the region. Ruto's supporters say it is just a matter of time before the people behind Kirwa make their intentions known.
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A senior government official was in a panic yesterday after Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta called for the arrest and prosecution of people suspected to have stolen money meant to educate children from poor backgrounds.  The official was so shaken that he kept calling people in the ministry as well as the media to ask them whether his name was on the list of suspects. The man is reportedly worried following speculation that he used proxies to divert millions from the Free Primary Education Fund.
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 KACC might soon move in to investigate the withdrawal of some Sh5 million from the account of Kanu. The Registrar of Political Parties has also written to both the party's secretary-general Nick Salat and the organising secretary Justin Muturi instructing that the accounting officer must approve all the withdrawals from the party's accounts.
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Assistant minister Cecily Mbarire's direct question of CJ nominee Dr Willy Mutunga to declare whether he was gay may backfire on the youthful Runyenjes MP. While her question put to rest the speculation surrounding the matter, some of her handlers feel she should have asked more "relevant" questions than the 'irrelevances of the ear stud and gay debate". A continued replay of the clip by local media without putting it in context has not made the situation any easier for their person, the handlers are saying.
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Did Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta make a last-minute decision not to announce taxation measures that would have made MPs pay tax alongside other state officers? Speculation was rife on the eve of the budget statement that the Kenya Revenue Authority had written the minister asking him to comply with the constitution and include taxation measures on the MPs' salaries and allowances. Did Uhuru ignore the request or was it a well calculated move to disarm the MPs who are unwilling to pay taxes?
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Diplomats from one of the countries in the Middle East who have an embassy here are in a tizzy after a woman who provides escort services started blackmailing them that she would expose their intimate activities to one and all. The concerned diplomats have opted to pay her to keep her quiet — for now.

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