All attention in Kiambaa Constituency is focusing on the race for the Kanu ticket featuring a titanic tussle between two tycoons, veteran MP Njenga Karume and Kanu boss Stanley Githunguri. 

The nomination of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta as the Kanu presidential candidate has served to resuscitate ruling party's prospects in central province, and particularly in Kiambu district. In Kiambaa, the euphoria went a notch higher with the defection to the Kenyatta campaign of Mr Karume, hitherto the key point man for the Democratic Party and Mr Mwai Kibaki, in the region.

Mr Karume is already serving as the main campaign coordinator for the Kenyatta's presidential campaign in central Kenya. But speculation that he would be handed a free ticket for the Kanu nomination in Kiambaa was put to rest last week when Mr Githunguri, also a key player in the Kenyatta camp, affirmed that he was not stepping down for anyone. 

Beside the two tycoons, there are many contenders for the Kanu ticket. They include a member of the extended Kenyatta family Daniel Ngengi, who in 1992 vied for Kangangi civic seat in Kiambu town but never went past DP nominations. 

Mr Ngengi, a computer engineer who has been living and working in the US since then, is Mr Kenyatta's cousin. 

The other contender is the the chairman of the troubled Mbo-I-Kamiti farmers company, the Rev Simon Ngeru, who is not likely to go far. The opposition is not being left behind. Former MP Kamau Icharia, the Ford Asili outsider who upset Mr Karume in 1992, has moved to the DP and is a strong contender for the National Rainbow Coalition ticket. 

Others on the same ticket include journalist Philo Ikonya and wealthy contractor and former Karume campaigner Nelson Ng'ethe Kahiu.

Two former Ford Asili councillors, Mr James Kimiti Wainaina and Mr John Kanyua declared early that they were running. Mr Kanyua will vie on a Social Democratic Party ticket, while Mr Wainaina is not decided yet on the party. 

The battle for Kiambaa is likely to be reduced to a two-horse race between Kanu and NARC. The Kanu nomination is clearly the more intriguing. Mr Karume and Mr Githunguri are both fabled tycoons, who gave enjoyed topsy-turvy relations with President Moi. In the waning days of the Jomo Kenyatta presidency, both were among the Kikuyu tycoons seen as implacable foes of the then Vice President Moi. 

Moi made uneasy peace with both when he became president in 1978. With the advent of multi-party politics, Mr Karume quit the government alongside Mr Kibaki and others to found the DP. But even as DP trustee and presumed chief financier, Mr Karume, sometimes to Mr Kibaki's disapproval, kept an open line to President Moi. He has been a central figure in many of President Moi 's attempts to woo the Kikuyu community, beginning in 1994 with the talks between elders which evolved into the ill-fated Gema-Kamatusa talks. His shift to the Kenyatta camp did not come as a surprise. 

Although he initially kept out of open politics, with the formation of the so-called Central Province Development Support Group that campaigned for Kanu towards the 1997 elections, Mr Githunguri came to the centre stage. He made his way into the district Kanu leadership. 

The two tycoons faced-off at the 1997 elections, with the Mr Karume emerging the runaway victor for the DP and Mr Githunguri trailing a distant second for Kanu. Mr Icharia was relegated to third place. 

Now they will face-off for the Kanu ticket. Kiambaa will be flush with campaign money, and there could be some bitter fallout that could only benefit the opposition. 

So far Kanu seems to be carrying the day in Kiambaa, but appearances can be deceptive. Mr Karume's clout, for instance, is highly overrated. He was sensationally upset in 1992 by Mr Icharia, who rode on the Ford Asili wave.

Although Mr Karume regained the Kiambaa seat, he was not able to help sway the district for the DP, and emerged the only party MP in the wider Kiambu.

Hence the interest in the NARC nominations. Mr Icharia is the best-known contender, but Mr Kahiu has the connections to pip him for he ticket. Then there is Ms Ikonya, who caused a stir last year with a highly publicised bid for a civic seat. 

"I'm the only candidate representing women interest, they have been misruled by men for so long. It is high this anomaly was righted," she says.