By MUGUMO MUNENE 
and ANTHONY KARIGA 

The controversial Maragwa District headquarters is situated in Kigumo constituency at Mariira, a few kilometres from Kigumo Town.

Kigumo is the district's richest constituency whose economy is based on tea and coffee. But it may witness the most colourless contest in all of the greater Murang'a.

As with the rest of the district, issues surrounding the Uhuru Kenyatta factor, opposition leader Mwai Kibaki's efforts to retain central Kenya's presidential vote and the possibility of Saba Saba Asili leader Kenneth Matiba entering the fray are being closely monitored.

But, for a purely local issue, the controversy over the location of the district headquarters beats all else. 

The headquarters is currently located at Mariira, a sleepy centre just five kilometres from Kigumo Town, where government officers are housed at a former training centre for farmers. 

Some constituents argue that the training centre should be preserved, being the only one in Central Province. But locals argue it provides good facilities for a district base, and has an extensive 320-acre land for expansion.

It is the one issue on which the constituency's MP, Mr Onesmus Kihara Mwangi, and his Maragwa counterpart, Mr Mwangi Kamande, do not see eye to eye.

Kigumo hit the news in the run-up to the 1997 elections when the then MP, a former ambassador to Germany, Mr John Baptista Kirore Mwaura of Ford Asili, moved to Kanu and declared he would seek re-election on its ticket.

Mr Mwaura was rewarded with a free run to the Kanu ticket, but fared badly, finishing fifth in a field of six candidates. He attributed his failure to capture the seat on the fact that he had run on an unpopular party's ticket. 

The location of the district headquarters at Mariira is credited to him. 

Kigumo politicians insist it must remain as the base despite demands from politicians in neighbouring Maragwa constituency that it be moved to Makutano/Kenol. 

Mr Mwaura is back in the race, but remains cagey when asked to name the party on which he intends to run. It is clear he is waiting to see whether Mr Kenyatta will be nominated as Kanu's presidential candidate. 

Mr Mwaura has a history of switching parties. In 1992, he moved from Kanu to the Democratic Party for about a week, and then to Mr Matiba's Ford Asili which swept all seats in the greater Murang'a-Kiambu region. 

With the approach of the 1997 elections, he moved back to Kanu, and has since concentrated on farming and business.

Mr Mwaura's nomination as the Kanu candidate seriously wounded the parliamentary aspirations of Mr Bernard Chege Waweru, the then Maragwa district Kanu branch secretary and a favourite for the Kanu parliamentary nomination in Kigumo. He reluctantly made the way for Mr Mwaura.

He is however confident he will win the Kanu ticket this time round. 

A former accountant with the Kenya Revenue Authority, Mr Waweru is in the real estate business and wants to push his agenda through activities in religious and social functions. 

He will be watching out for the candidature of Mr George Mboti, a local businessman who hails from the same locality, but is yet to declare his party.

Despite the excitement over the Kanu ticket, largely tied to the Kenyatta factor, Mr Mwangi, feels comfortable that the DP magnetism witnessed in 1997 will see him through. He first vied for the seat in 1992 on the Party of Independent Candidates of Kenya (PICK) ticket and managed only a handful of votes. 

His shift to the DP in 1997 on the demise of Ford Asili paid dividends as he was easily elected.

The MP now boasts of a good development record which he believes has enhanced his status in the constituency. 

He is also counting on his involvement in the Coffee and Tea Parliamentary Association (Cotepa), which he believes addresses the plight of tea and coffee farmers who form the bulk of voters in Kigumo.

Much, however, will depend on whether he wins the DP nomination, and for the moment there is uncertainty because most candidates are reluctant to declare their party. And then there will be the wider picture of how the Uhuru-Matiba-Kibaki factor will influence the shape of politics in the area.

Another candidate keen to claim a hand in reforms in the tea and coffee industries is Mr Simon Mitobio, whose ambitions might be nipped in the bud if he decides to vie on the little known United Agriculture Party (UAP).

Mr Mitobio made a name for himself through the Kenya Union of Small Scale Tea Owners (Kussto) which was vocal during the transformation of the Kenya Tea Development Authority into the Kenya Tea Development Agency. 

The agriculture activist started agitating for reforms in the tea industry in August 1992 but had to abandon his plan to run for the parliamentary seat following claims that the Special Branch and plainclothes police officers were trailing him.

He picked up the fight in 1999 and has been outspoken on issues to do with tea and coffee making his a household name among farmers. 

Mr Mitobio also takes pride in having been personally invited by the Ministry of Agriculture to give an input during the drafting of the revamped Coffee Act. 

The aspirant says he believes influential individuals and institutions in the tea and coffee industry might sponsor a candidate to frustrate his quest.

The chairman of the nondescript UAP, Mr Mitobio has been at the forefront resisting plans to move the district headquarters from the constituency. 

Three weeks ago, he led a group of people to invade a meeting in neighbouring Maragwa constituency called to discuss the district headquarters issue, and was beaten by youths opposed to him. 

Also in the race is Mr Kuria Mwangi, an engineer making his political debut. Mr Mwangi has been building a political network, and is promising plans to reconstruct the infrastructure, to boost education and agriculture.

 Mr Mitobio is an uncle of Mr Mwangi, a fact likely to generate heated domestic issues and split crucial votes come the elections as both will be targeting the same home turf.

Another candidate will be Mr Wanjagi Kiragu, who has been conducting his campaign in the churches. Mr Kiragu ran in 1997 on the Labour Party of Kenya ticket, but maintains he moved to the party as a last resort after he was denied the Ford People ticket at the last minute.