Friday, May 31, 2013

Corridors of Power

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY THE POLITICAL DESK
The son of a chairman of one of the constitutional commissions caused quite a stir when he interrupted his father during a press conference and told him they had to leave. The young man took over the press conference telling journalists to ask their final question. When it seemed as if his father would entertain more questions, the young man took him by the shoulders insisting they had to leave. In the rush to leave the conference, the chairman almost walked away with a clip-on microphone which one of the television journalists had placed in his pocket!
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A judge of a quasi tribunal was thrilled when a high profile man appeared before her. She could not contain her excitement and took out her iPad so that she could take photos of the man whom she claimed she had been hoping to meet for a long time. The bemused personality humored her and agreed to pose for several photos.
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A former Cabinet minister has reportedly failed in his many attempts to meet with deputy president William Ruto. The latest such attempt was last week when he was kept waiting for close to six hours at Ruto's office. Our moles tell us the man— who at one time hoped to rival Ruto as the political king pin in Rift Valley— has fallen into hard times after he was unsuccessful in the last elections.
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Even as MPs complain about their salaries, it seems one section of public officers who do not have to worry about this are staff of the national security intelligence services. Our moles tell us that their salaries are always reviewed upwards at the end of every election. Immediately after the 2007 elections, a former civil servant who is now the chairman of a constitutional commission was hired by the Kibaki administration to 'improve' their terms of service. The salaries had been reviewed upwards as soon as Kibaki succeeded Moi in 2002. Prior to this, after the 1992 and 1997 elections, the Moi regime reviewed the salaries upwards. Now we hear a former banker was recently hired to look into ways of improving the salaries of the staff for “doing their job well during the concluded elections!” 

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