CORRIDORS OF POWER | The Star, Kenya

Has a senior director at the Treasury (above) feigned illness to drag out the ongoing DCI probe into the lost billions in the dams scandal? After learning that directors of various departments at the Treasury had been summoned to record statements at the Kiambu Road DCI yesterday, the director fell sick on Wednesday night and was admitted to a top city hospital. On Tuesday, the officer was jovial and reported to work. DCI officers, who were waiting to record a statement from the officer yesterday, were stunned when they learned the officer was in hospital for emergency treatment. A mole at the Treasury tells Corridors that if the DCI officers are not swift, the man could be in hospital for as long as it takes to stall the probe. The ailing officer holds a very critical docket in connection to the investigations and his statement is important in unravelling the mystery.

Did a county boss buy, rebrand and display items at the 6th Devolution Conference in Kirinyaga, to make it appear they were produced in his own county? Residents from the lakeside county were at loss to see county-branded rice and tea displayed during the conference, yet the items are not produced anywhere in the vast county. Corridors of Power wonders how far governors can go to prove their performance, even if it means importing from other counties and rebranding products with their county colours. The governor was seen nudging the President to his stand during the head of state’s tour. Embarrased or not, some politicians from his county have threatened to smoke him out.

That politicians are good at denying or dismissing claims of soliciting kickbacks to ‘facilitate’ payments is not a matter of debate. However, what baffles residents of a county in Eastern is that a senior government official was paid Sh1.5 billion to facilitate the award of a contract to a firm executing a mega project in the region. The man with an appetite for cash and women received the money before the project, which has run into cash problems, started. Residents wonder how long people’s ‘stomachs’ will be put before development.

Is there more than meets the eye in the surprising move by Parliament to lock out non-MPs from some lavatories within the ‘august’ House? Parliamentary staff and journalists were surprised when some washrooms were declared out of bounds for non-members. Last year, a section of MPs confessed to being given bribes in the toilets to defeat the controversial sugar report, which was threatening careers of some powerful Cabinet secretaries. Corridors of Power hopes that the bribery revelation has nothing to do with the current decision.