Former Kiss FM presenter, Felix Odiwuor popularly known as Jalang'o has revealed that he will part ways with almost Kshs 40 million in his preparation for the Lang'ata parliamentary contest.

The radio personality who also goes by the moniker 'Heavy J' in a bid to live up to his name, has revealed that in order to clinch the hotly contested seat, he has to come up with the amount and face off other monied contestants who are posing quite the competition for him.

He was speaking on Citizen TV on Friday, March 6 detailing the challenges that come with being a first-time candidate in the elections that have proved to be a battle of the deep-pocketed.

In his plans for the lump sum amount, he stated that the money would be channeled into the movement of campaign caravans, branding, and purchase of merchandise, noting that aspirants such as himself will be required to get into the grassroots to meet their supporters who are still recovering from the adverse economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is not about handouts or anything like that, but for a well-oiled campaign, it would easily cost about Ksh30 million to Ksh40 million so that you will be able to move into every single place and articulate your issues,” he stated.

“This is going to be the most expensive election for any politician because we are coming from the pandemic and you can go to the ground to articulate issues out there but the situation forces you to go beyond selling your ideologies to giving food and help to people,” he noted.

He maintained that youthful politicians are bearing the brunt of the tough economic times compared to their seasoned counterparts, as he has been compelled to raise funds for campaigns through fundraisers, kitties, and donations by his supporters from the Lang'ata Constituency.

“I had my fundraiser in December 2021 in which a few friends put in a good amount of money for me to start my campaigns, and from time to time I have also had support from my constituents,” the ODM aspirant added. 

"Sometimes you can budget for Ksh1 million and you find that the money has risen to over Ksh10 million. So it keeps on fluctuating every single day but politics is an expensive affair," he argued.

Jalang'o seeks to unseat the incumbent Nixon Korir of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.