The Star Corridors of Power Political Gossip

A senior Cabinet Minister from Nyanza is in deep trouble after a man discovered he was having an affair with his wife. The woman has been accompanying the minister on trips outside the country allegedly "to attend international conferences". The husband has gathered evidence including passenger manifests confirming that the two have been globetrotting together. It is understood that the minister has gone into panic mode after word reached him that he had been busted. The woman is employed by a church of which the minister is a member.

An ODM minister played the hide-and-seek game with his host and members of the public last week after officiating a function in the lakeside town of Kisumu. The minister wanted to leave town soon after the function and did not want to be detained by his colleagues or even the public because he was unhappy with some of his ODM colleagues "for stabbing me in the back". We are told the minister jumped into his car and drove towards the airport but when he realised his host was following him, he took a detour into a dingy hotel where pretended to be holding a meeting with ODM youthwingers.

Some of the "fake" IDPs who have been collecting the Sh35,000 compensation being given by the government to help in resettlement should know their con days are over. We are told that the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission has unleashed investigators to try and track down those who have been masquerading as IDPs to get the money. The Minister for Special Programmes Naomi Shaban wants to nail those whom she says have
given the resettle-ment programme a bad name.

A Nairobi MP notorious for brawls with his constituents got a taste of his own medicine last Wednesday night when his official car windows were smashed by several youth at a petrol station on Kangundo Road. Corridors has it that the MP's wife's decision to sell water from a borehole that was recently drilled by the government irked the youth who said the woman was selling it at exorbitant prices. The youth turned their anger on the MP when he went to pick up his wife as she was closing the shop.

Prof Hellen Sambili may be silent about the chaos at the National Youth Fund but those close to her say the minister has already made a decision to replace all the fund's board members. Those who have seen the list say the minister intends to appoint people mainly from Rift Valley to sit on the board which controls more than Sh1 billion. Sambili has been doing battle with the board over the appointment/sacking of the CEO.

So who will baptize Maina Njenga? We are told by some of his supporters that a new tug of war has emerged between Bishop Margaret Wanjiru's people and Prophet David Owuor with each side wanting to baptize the former jailbird. Those pitching for Owuor argue that the man is able to pull more crowds and some Mungiki members have already identified themselves with his church. But Wanjiru's people are adamant that she will be the one who will baptize Njenga because he made a personal decision to go to her church as soon as he was released from jail.

A senior minister was in a state of shock when a female MP asked him whether he had an affair with a lover of another colleague in Cabinet. The senior minister, who was awed by the confidence of the MP, quickly confessed that he did but used a condom. Satisfied that his colleague was safe, the MP walked out of his office without uttering another word.

Corridors is wondering what made Information minister Samuel Poghisio travel to Arusha for the East African Community workshop. The minister was nowhere
on the list of presenters but faithfully sat all through the long presentations. During meal times, the minister sat alone.

A senior cop at the CID headquarters is engaging in open nepotism and favouritism. Corridors has just been informed that the detective is reluctant to sign allowance and night-out claims for certain officers. Detectives have now adopted a new way of having the officer sign the claims by having tribesmen of the senior cop on every trip that they intend to make.

Corridors is wondering why Cabinet ministers and Permanent Secretaries are surrendering the Mercedes Benz cars at a godown of some private motor vehicle company and not at any government institution. Anyone with an answer?

A male journalist was surprised when a female assistant minister asked him out for a meeting at a secluded hotel on the promise she would give him a story. The youthful journalist working for a vernacular station was baffled when she changed her mind and told him that it would be better if he went to her house. The journalist was confounded when he got to the house to find the Mheshimiwa alone, without her house servants or even her security whom she had given the day off. He was stunned when after entering the house, his host retreated to her bedroom and emerged carrying two glasses of wine and wearing a transparent negligee. The journalist had to come up with an excuse to extricate himself from the awkward situation.

On matters of political funding, a bitter but wealthy MP from Luo Nyanza has vowed he will never spend a cent in financing Prime Minister Raila Odinga's political activities should he decide to run for a top elective seat in 2012. The man told revellers at a Hurlingham bar that the ODM leader is now using operatives and his political rivals to "finish" him at his constituency.

A top CID officer said to have been close to the former Police Commissioner Maj Gen (Rtd) Hussein Ali has been ejected from his office at the CID headquarters on Kiambu Road. We are told the man is now working from a conference room after his intended office was allocated to a colleague who was transferred from an upcountry station.

A city businessman of Asian origin who invested over Sh30 million in the ODM presidential campaign is now regretting his generosity. The man has confided in friends that a promise by a top member of the Pentagon to have him nominated as an MP was not honoured.

Corridors has now been informed that Information minister Samuel Poghisio was officially invited to an EAC conference in Arusha — courtesy of the EAC secretariat. He was the leader of the Kenya delegation to the conference.



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