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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Corridors of Power



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An ODM politician desperately looked for a senior lawyer to swear him and his colleagues into office at the height of the 2007-08 post-election violence. The man called several senior lawyers — among them two very well known ones — and asked them to arrange to swear in an ODM government in exchange for the position of Chief Justice. While both lawyers politely declined on account that the election was disputed, the party official, now a minister in the coalition government, got frustrated and told one lawyer that he did not care whether people were dying. "Just swear us in period!" said the politician.
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The appointment of an MP to the Cabinet in Monday’s reshuffle is the culmination of weeks of lobbying people in political circles. The man has been telling anyone who cared to listed that he was best qualified for the Cabinet post and what he needed now was "just a bit of support" from various political players in order to convince the President that that he is indeed capable and ready to serve. His lobbying was not in vain as he is now in the Cabinet!
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It seems that as much as people pretend not to be tribal, any action (or inaction) is reduced to the tribal card. Monday's reshuffle was no different as the web went viral with people pointing out that the reshuffle had now placed the Foreign Affairs docket firmly in the hands of the Kisii community with the appointment of Prof Sam Ongeri whose assistant remains Richard Onyonka.
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Remember the kneel-before-me, pledge-your-loyalty craze that swept political circles during the Moi rule and which Kenyans hoped had finally come to an end? Well, it seems some politicians cannot shake off this habit. No sooner had Njeru Githae been appointed Finance acting minister than an MP from Central Kenya was overheard pledging his loyalty to Githae when the minister appeared before the Public Accounts Committee to be questioned over the De La Rue saga. The MP, who is a member of the committee, walked to where the minister was sitting and told him in a loud whisper: "You should not think I have turned against you, we are still together but here, it is my job!”

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