The Star 01/18/2017

President Uhuru Kenyatta has suffered a major blow after one of his most trusted, passionate and ardent supporter former TNA secretary general Onyango Oloo defected. Oloo, who is eyeing a parliamentary seat in Kisumu, is set to officially defect to ODM today. He will be received by opposition chief Raila Odinga, leaving only ex-minister Raphael Tuju as Uhuru’s point man in Luo-Nyanza. After the Jubilee merger, Uhuru appeared to edge out Oloo after he named Tuju as the head of his Jubilee Party machine, leaving the former powerful secretary general empty-handed. Earlier, Uhuru had sacked Oloo as the chairman of the Lake Basin Development Authority, a position that was also incidentally handed to Tuju. There are allegations that a section of Jubilee leaders have interests in the Sh3 billion LBDA…

TULLOW OIL RIG New find in Lokichar Basin Kenya is inching closer to a billion barrels of oil find in the Lokichar Basin, South Turkana. British explorer Tullow has announced it has discovered 25 metres of net oil pay at a depth of 700 metres in Erut-1 well in the oil-rich Block 13T.The new find indicates the firms plan to achieve a target of more than a billion barrels in Lokichar basin is on track. See Page 18 HASSAN JOHO ‘Jubilee wants to mislead voters’ The Mombasa governor has said his county faces possible sabotage during the August 8 general election. He said these saboteurs have been bribed to misdirect voters, especially those in Likoni. Joho on Monday said Jubilee is hoodwinking Likoni residents to register or transfer votes to…

The Court of Appeal judges yesterday accused lawyers in Nairobi of laxity. Judges Philip Waki, Roselyne Nambuye and Patrick Kiage said the lawyers are dragging cases. Waki said they will take up the matter with the registrar as they are stationed in Nyeri, but had travelled to Nairobi to clear a backlog of cases. Kiage, during the hearing of a case between the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and its former deputy boss Wilson Shollei, said they are disappointed in lawyers Emmanuel Wetangula and Nixon Sifuna for not filing submissions for the case. Wetangula is representing the IEBC, while Sifuna is for Shollei. “The appeal is adjourned with disappointment. Counsels’ endemic problem of not filing submissions so that cases can be concluded has to be stopped,” Kiage said. In the…

A damning dossier against a Cabinet Secretary is in circulation. The voluminous petition, alleging massive financial impropriety and mega corruption against the CS — believed to be one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s (pictured) most hardworking ministers — has been sent to Parliament. The dossier is so detailed and well written it has tongues wagging in overdrive. Is it the work of the National intelligence Service? One thing is not in doubt though: It’s the work of insiders within the Jubilee administration who appear to know the CS very well. Even more shocking are claims that the said CS has a fake degree. Could there be enough truth in the claims for a parliamentary probe or is it just bad blood between the minister and his Principal Secretary? A top Jubilee…

ODM leader Raila Odinga is planning an electoral sweep of Nairobi, the jewel in the crown, and this time he’s shifting strategy and calculating how to win smart. “We can do it and must do it,” Raila told Cord aspirants at Nyayo Stadium yesterday as he urged everyone to register and vote. There will be no scattershot approach, no blind mobilisation everywhere, but careful targeting of strongholds and swing constituencies in registration and campaigning. No effort will be wasted in areas where the opposition cannot win. Consensus will be sought. Everybody cannot run or everybody will lose. Yesterday Raila urged aspirants not to blindly mobilise supporters but map out and target party strongholds. Cord wants to retain the governorship of Evans Kidero, unseat Jubilee’s Senator Mike Sonko and win the…

IT is not in dispute that Nairobi is the capital county of Kenya and also accounts for almost 50 per cent of GDP. Therefore Nairobi is a very special county and in fact holds a unique place in the Republic of Kenya, given that it is the hub of communication and of commerce. It is basically the centre of business in East and Central Africa and therefore it holds a very strategic position that goes beyond Kenya. Nairobi should therefore not get the same treatment as any other city in East and Central Africa – and neither should it get similar treatment like any other county. Being the most strategic county, you have seen what has happened in the last four years where governance performance has been very mediocre. Basically,…