DAGGERS NOW DRAWN IN KISUMU TOWN WEST CONSTITUENCY.

BY SHEM KOSSE AND JEFF OTIENO

Tension is heightening in Kisumu town west constituency as the 2007 elections beckons. It all started mid this week when a youthful parliamentary hopeful Joshua Odhiambo Nyamori took the town streets by storm to officially launch his campaigns.

For starters Nyamori is slated to battle it out with the incumbent and out of favour Rev Ken Nyagudi, influential kisumu based lawyer cum business guru Olga John Olago Aluoch, NGO magnet Juliet Ogejo, Nairobi based business woman Rose Buyu, leading kisumu medic James Otieno Obondi, oil dealer Shem Onyango Kwega among others in what pundits argue will be a battle of titans.

Back to Nyamori launch, it kicked off colourfully from the historic Jomo Kenyatta sports ground where he is the manager, but met the wrath of cyclists- operators adjacent to Aga khan hall who were shouting slogans in favour of one of his rivals.

Majority of opinion shapers in town and its environ are jittery with Nyamori's candidature on grounds that he is surrounded by busy bodies and people with questionable political backgrounds.

Nyamori will further shun personality-kind of politics and entrench a shrewd structure in order to make meaningful impact in duel observers largely opine he is a duck horse (novice).

If the foregoing scenario is something to bank on and with a little bit of sustainability, then Olago should count on hours to see inside of the tenth parliament. Political analysts argue that he has made considerable tangible development initiatives to catapult his bid.

Beleaguered incumbent legislature Rev Ken Nyagudi will require divine intervention to harmonize the volatile political terrain occasioned by massive allegations that him and his cronies siphoned CDF kitty with glee.

Nairobi based lawyer cum NGO operative Juliet Ogejo has made inroads but will have to redouble her effort to bag the seat.

Top medic Obondi has got goodwill with the electorates owing to his generosity but he is yet to declare his interest.

Its imperative to note that whoever under estimates Kwega is doing so at his own peril. However, his critics and admirers argue that he is playing more of an ivory-tower-kind of politics than he used to be when he made a debut decade ago.

It's worth noting that the entire aspirants will be gunning for the seat under ODM flagship.

The constituency has got a staggering one hundred and thirty plus registered number of voters.

Whoever will move with speed to address the hawking menace, unemployment, insecurity among others stands a better chance of clinching the seat.