Chairlady denounces press as ‘deep state’

Parliament building.

Image: FILE

An MP from Nyanza was overheard bragging how he is well-connected with the top security officials, as he advised locals not to bother reporting him for unruly behaviour. The legislator is said to have boasted about his connections with a top official at a powerful ministry, who would not allow officers to arrest him, his bodyguards or supporters over “small village issues”. Residents have been complaining to local police officers that the MP uses thugs to terrorise those who differ with him. A local told Corridors of Power that supporters and goons of the MP have several times physically attacked residents who have not agreed with him on various matters.

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A lawmaker’s penchant for scandals-related questions has attracted the attention of his sponsoring party with his colleagues in the party now questioning whether their member has turned himself into a gun for fire. According to his colleagues in the party, all matters the lawmaker has pursued in the 12th Parliament are those that he has vested interests in. The lawmaker, described as a lone ranger by party stalwarts, is said to be yearning for a bigger elective seat in the next year’s polls.

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Drama ensured during a virtual meeting of a parliamentary committee when the chair and a member exchanged bitter words. The verbal melee started when journalists logged into the virtual system to follow the proceedings of the meeting where the panel was grilling a managing director of a state corporation. The chairperson, a lady, had instructed that no journalists should be invited as the matters in the agenda “were weighty”. But the members sent out a link to the journalists who immediately accessed the meeting. On realising that some journalists had logged in, the chair demanded to know who allowed in the “deep state and the system”. The chair, who could not control her anger, hurled all sort of words, forcing the secretariat to abruptly end the virtual meeting.

(Edited by V. Graham)