A Political Kenya: Latest Politics and Kenya Economy News

First it was the Lands PS Dorothy Angote who questioned the integrity of some of the MPs grilling civil servants. Now we are told that some CEOs of parastatals and some private companies who have been summoned are very unhappy. One of them was overheard complaining that several chairs of house committees are harassing them because they have refused to part with handouts.

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Colleagues to one senior cabinet minister are stunned by his new struck love-bug. Those close to him claim whenever his Malindi-based mistress calls, he has to dash out of even high profile meetings to receive the call. The young woman is said to be having the days of her life given that the minister is currently separated from his official wife.

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And who might be planning to disrupt Raila Odinga's trip to Murang'a? We are told a group of stone-throwing youths have been meeting to strategise on how to disrupt the intended visit. Raila's planned visit has generated debate with Central province civic leaders as well as MPs taking sides.

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A group of Somali leaders including MPs and influential business people in Eastleigh are mad with Internal Security minister George Saitoti over a meeting he held with Israeli officials. They believe this meeting identified Eastleigh as a potential security threat hence the latest security operation in the area.

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Talking of the good old mathematics professor, we hear that a censure motion might be in the offing for him. From the face of it, we hear, the censure is about the recent police cache of 130,000 bullets in Narok but there is more to it. Saitoti has previously survived ouster from PNU chairmanship.

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Corridors has learnt that a former powerful civil servant has been appointed by a presidential hopeful from Central province to coordinate his propaganda campaign. The former provincial administrator held the first meeting with his team last Friday at Blue Post Hotel on Thika Road.

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A group of rich politicians from Central province commonly referred to a 'homeguards' are planning to buy property owned by a once flamboyant opposition leader from the region. Those close to the indisposed leader say the politicians have on several occasions shown interest in the property instead of coming to his help in his hour of need.

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What might be happening with disbursement of Political Parties' Fund? Corridors has learnt that three weeks since they were promised the fat cheques, officials from several political parties are yet to receive any cash. The registrar of political parties had written to parties on February 2 promising that the money would be availed in two weeks time.

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Cabinet minister Moses Wetang'ula has suddenly decided he is no longer interested in the Ford Kenya chairman's seat. The minister has now said he is going for the bigger seat of party leader. He made the announcement through an official at his Foreign Affairs ministry. This now makes it easier for Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa to clinch the chairmanship. Eugene held a big rally in Bungoma yesterday.

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The Minister for Planning and his PS are quietly entangled in a tug of war on payment of millions of shillings to two companies contracted to store census material. The two companies worked as a consortium to win the contract but are said to have differed over who between them should call the shots over the warehousing contract they won ahead of last year's national census by the Kenya National Bureau for Statistics.

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That the two coalition leaders Raila Odinga and President Kibaki do not trust each other is not a secret. People close to them tell us that one of the partners has formed the habit of telling his juniors what the two principals discuss and agree in confidence. One of the principals is apparently incensed that his partner went ahead and told one of the ministers what his party boss had said about him!

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Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is said to have done all he could to ensure that the PNU side got most of the things it wanted into the draft constitution while in Naivasha. Some of those from the PNU side who attended the Naivasha talks have been praising Uhuru for fixing ODM in Naivasha. Remember the story we published during the Naivasha talks that said PNU was bulldozing its way?

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Friends and colleagues of a well-known TV presenter are wondering why she has continued to date an assistant minister from Rift Valley many months after she got married to someone else. We are told that attempts by her friends to stop her from dating the politician have failed because the woman has continued to openly show her affection to the politician. Worries are that things could go the wrong way if her husband discovers.

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Has former South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara made up with ODM party leader Raila Odinga? We are told that the former Assistant Minister for Trade has dumped Agriculture minister William Ruto because he believes sticking with Raila would get him elected again. Magara attended the party's national executive committee meeting as a way of showing his loyalty to Raila.

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Do you remember the story of how a Cabinet minister snubbed his girlfriend who had carried for him red roses to the airport on Valentines Day? The minister is in trouble with another girlfriend who apparently watched all the drama unfold last Sunday when the minister landed. The second girlfriend had also driven to the airport to receive the man but because of her profile, she sat in her car with her driver hoping to ride with the minister in his car on her way back from the airport so they could celebrate Valentine's Day. But when she saw the other woman with flowers, she ordered her driver to drive away and those who saw her say the woman was devastated and has since then refused to talk to the minister.

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Will President Kibaki really meet Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday to discuss the current crisis? People close to President Kibaki tell us that the meeting may not take place saying there is no crisis in the first place. They say even if the President will accept the meeting, it will not be on Sunday because it is not a working day.

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Have you noticed that Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has unusually not commented much regarding the current crisis in government? We are told by some of his handlers that the man from Mwingi has been advised to keep his mouth shut on this crisis until — "all facts are clear". Those close to him say the VP has been warned against taking sides in the latest tiff because he could "burn himself".

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They are political cry babies! That was the response from some people close to President Kibaki when news broke out that ODM had asked Chief Mediator Kofi Annan to return and help resolve the latest tiff in the coalition government. The President was so amused that the only thing he said, according to one of the advisers who was with Kibaki at the time, was "wacha wajienjoy"

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We hear that a senior government official has sent his most trusted aides to South Africa. The mission, to try and destroy records which show who the real owners of one of the companies contracted to ship maize into the country in 2008. Those in the know have whispered that the official is scared that if an enemy lays hands on the records, the political career of the official will be in jeopardy.

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Still on the maize scam, we are told one of the suspended officials is having sleepless nights trying to have audit firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers clear his name. The suspended official has been making endless phone calls to anyone he thinks is in a position to have his wishes fulfilled. A little bird has disclosed that PWC on the other hand has flatly refused to clear or even meet any of those mentioned on grounds that it completed its work and handed over the report to the appointing authority. The audit firm has said all queries, including additional information on the scams should be directed to the PM's office or Treasury, since they are the ones who commissioned the audit.

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One of the senior officials in the Prime Minister's office who stepped aside last week spent a bit of time in Treasury yesterday trying to have Finance permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua accept his evidence clearing him from the maize scam. The man wanted the PS to pass the information to PriceWaterhouseCoopers so that PWC can issue a statement and even show the purported evidence clearing him of wrongdoing in the scam.

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Allegations are rife that Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his ODM party schemed to have the National Accord re-negotiated. Wags say the reason why the ODM leader decided to suspend Cabinet ministers William Ruto and Sam Ongeri was that he wanted to precipitate a crisis so that Chief Mediator Kofi Annan could return and help renegotiate the accord. That is why ODM Deputy Leader Musalia Mudavadi was quick to ask for Annan's return.

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Some Rift Valley MPs were so angry at Prime Minister Raila Odinga's decision to suspend William Ruto that they were considering defecting enmasse to another party in protest. The MPs were overhead saying that there was no reason for them to remain in, or even continue to be associated with, OOM since Raila had openly shown contempt for them. But their colleagues with cooler heads rejected the suggestion reminding them defection would lead to an election which most of them would lose!

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Simon Mbugua was at it again. Last week he walked into a Safaricom's Advantage Centre to sort out an issue regarding his bill. The Kamukunji MP first jumped the queue and then took more than 30 minutes haranguing the attendant in between answering his phone and loudly conversing with acquaintances at the centre. All this time the poor attendant waited for the mheshimiwa so that he could complete attending to his problem. When he was finally ready to leave, Mbugua got a hold of his wallet, took out Sh1,000 and handed it over to the attendant who declined the 'gift'. Not to be fobbed off, Mbugua forced the note into the attendant's shirt pocket before walking out.

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A police chief has been summoned to police headquarters after he was involved in a scuffle with his junior early this month. The provincial boss is reported to have punched and used abusive language against one of the division's bosses. The division boss has since been transferred.