By Mbaka Suchia

Clutching copies of daily newspapers, a man sits in the middle of an animated crowd at Kisumu Central Square. The group is large enough to make a politician envious.

"It is in The Standard. Read it, you people don’t read!" the man thunders, pointing to the newspaper’s lead story of the day, headlined, Ocampo’s Secret letter to Kibaki.

Their the engaged audience listen attentively as the leader of debate reads out loud. Occasionally, somebody would disagree with a point in the story and there would be an outburst of loud murmurs. Minutes later, a consensus is reached and they burst into a raft of noisy clapping as the crowd keeps swelling.

A first timer to the scene would be excused to think there is a political rally of sorts that draws a huge crowd in the town’s Central Square, to debate politics in what has come to be popularly known as Bunge la Wananchi (Peoples’ Parliament).

Bathing in the open and doing domestic washing are common activities at Kisumu’s Dunga Beach.

It would be hours later, as the setting sun casts its amber rays over the lake, that the gathering disperses — some with their faces beaming, apparently reflecting on political arguments they had won. Some of them have been here the whole day.

Welcome to Kisumu, a town where everything appears to be ‘eaten’ with a tinge of politics.

The Bunge la Wananchi has become a growing informal sector, now drawing the attention of foreign donor agencies who have been funding its activities.

The largest gathering that meets every weekday at the Kisumu bus park, complete with rotating moderators who act like Speaker of Parliament, has been funded by various NGOs and has set up a tent and chairs.

Two other groups meet at Manyata and Nyalenda estates where they have also set up tents and chairs for their audiences.

NGOs that support them are impressed by the way the gatherings raise political issues and question management of public affairs. They also put politicians in check by reaching out to some to answer the issues raise.

Most of the participants in the informal gatherings are the boda boda taxi operators and hawkers. Nevertheless, it is not strange to spot one or two aspiring politicians joining in to give their opinion to the excited groups.

Matters can reach a crescendo if a local politician is seen in the vicinity. He would be egged on to give a piece of their mind. Sometimes it could be merely the glance of a politician’s vehicle that zooms by without him. That is enough to draw applause.

"Rampant unemployment here has pushed many into hawking and boda boda taxis. Many youths are idle and they find these gathering a good pastime," comments a resident who moved to the town recently from Nairobi.

The gatherings provide ready audiences for TV talk shows seeking a public view on anything. The groups fall into the character of Kisumu as a town of charged political temperatures and drama.

During the American Election of President Barack Obama, hundreds of youths turns up in Kisumu streets to rake part in a mock voting exercise.

hired mourners escort a hearse around the town.

Road shows organised often by FM radio stations are rave events here. The town almost comes to a standstill. The sight of vehicles mounted with blaring loudspeakers draws a hundreds of people into the streets in its tow.

But these aside, Kisumu, a town of 800,000 people, has many other peculiarities.

Despite being on the lake shores, the town experiences severe water shortage.

The shortage of water is said to have spurred public bathing in the open, considered a big public nuisance along the lake’s shores.

First time tourists to the lake shores, hoping to see the famous Lake Victoria, usually have to savour the unpleasant sight of grown-ups bathing in the open without a care in the world.

Groups of women and children can be seen ‘taking a shower’ together on shoreline rocks. The women then proceed to do their washing of clothes and utensils. Barely metres away, men bathe and bask on rocks, some chatting with the women nearby.

Not even the approaching footsteps of a stranger will cause them to conceal their nakedness.

Stephen Ogoma says, as he suns himself after a lake ‘shower" at Dunga beach: "bathing in the lake is far better that from a bathroom with just a little water in a bucket. God’s bucket has plenty of water."

"There is nothing strange in seeing men, women and their children bathing and washing on the lakeshore. It’s been our practice for ages," observes 30 year-old Adhiambo, a fish monger on the beach.

Her three children aged between four and eight have accompanied her to the lakeshore. While she is engaged in the chat with the writer, the children have unrestricted fun as they splash in the water.

A lot of the people coming to do their thing at the lake are residents of the sprawling slums like Dunga with no piped water and bathrooms. Some walk distances of about 10km daily to get to the lake’s shores.

But many residents feel the displays attracts scorn on the community.

With the assistance of the village elders and chiefs, some areas on the lakeshore have designated bathing points where women and men would hardly come into contact.