Matchboxes light up Samboja's gubernatorial comeback campaign

Former Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja. [Daniel Chege, Standard]

Former Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja has reignited his political comeback by distributing thousands of branded matchboxes as a strategy to re-engage voters.

Samboja has launched meet-the-people and other strategies as he hopes to recapture the gubernatorial seat, he lost to the incumbent Governor Andrew Mwadime.

The matchboxes seen by The Standard are emblazoned with the former governor’s photo and his name, Mshapa Granton Samboja, 2027 Governor, Taita Taveta.

Samboja has strategically deployed his close allies, who are traversing urban and rural areas where they are engaging in publicity stunts as one of his tactics to once again endear himself to voters.

His allies say the former county chief executive has chosen the new method as an effective way of reaching out to the masses in urban and rural areas for his benefit ahead of the next year’s polls.

Historically, in the mid-20th century United States of America, campaign matchboxes were a highly effective and popular form of political advertising, utilised by candidates at all levels due to their low cost and near-universal use in an era when smoking was common, according to online sources.

Yesterday in Mwatate town, Jackson Mwagharo, Samboja’s Personal Assistant (PA), distributed over 1000 matchboxes to light up campaigns for the county top seat.

The former SDP-nominated legislator said they are using matchboxes as a cost-effective and practical promotional campaign tool. “This is also an effective way to spread our candidate’s message to the large masses, “he says.

Speaking to The Standard, Mr Mwagharo disclosed that they have so far distributed thousands of matchboxes in Voi, Mwatate, Wundanyi and Taveta sub-counties to expose the recipient (voters) to the political campaign’s message every time they use it. It was, however, a funny scene in Mwatate town as residents scrambled for the free promotional and customised matchboxes.

“We are distributing the matchboxes to pass our message that we are fully in the gubernatorial race,” he said.

Samboja joins a growing list of candidates for the governor’s seat in the county. Among those who have publicly declared interest for the seat are Senator Jones Mwaruma, Wundanyi MP Danson Mwashako, former KPA MD Ambassador John Mwangemi, KPA’s Handling Equipment Manager Engineer Anderson Mtalaki and former Principal Secretary Dr Margaret Mwakima, among others.

Despite conducting high-profile campaigns, Samboja lost the county top seat to Mwadime, coming second in the 2022 polls.

The former county executive officer is a philanthropist, a grassroots mobiliser and a political force to reckon with. Samboja is also backed by financial muscles, and his declaration has compelled his rivals to go back to the drawing board to strategise.

“I am prepared to battle it out with any candidate to recapture the top county seat in the next polls,” vowed Samboja, who was recently appointed by President William Ruto as the board chairman for the Pyrethrum Processing Company (PPCK).

He noted that he lost the seat after some current elected leaders ganged up to support the incumbent governor. Samboja told his rivals to prepare for a bruising mother of all political battles in the next polls.

“I was sick for one year after undergoing a surgery in the runner-up to the last general election. The former assembly members also went ahead to impeach me for no apparent reason, and I had to spend a lot of time to defend myself, and the impeachment motion was thrown out by the Senate,” he said.

“My political rivals took advantage of my health challenges to campaign against me, but this time round things will be very different from the past,” he told his supporters at Wundanyi and Mwatate constituencies.

Samboja has been going round the county to meet his supporters.

At the same time, Samboja has described some of his political rivals as greenhorn politicians who have nothing to offer.  He said he had occupied the seat for five years, and he knows exactly what it entails, unlike some of the new contenders.

“I ask for forgiveness for any wrongdoing during my administration. I have also realised my mistakes and have corrected them. I am ready to repeat class, and my supporters should help me do revision to pass the final examination in the next polls,” he told his supporters.

 “I lost the seat due to many challenges beyond my control. There are high chances that when the stem of a tree is cut and later watered, it will still sprout out,” he told his supporters.

Samboja blamed the slow pace of development in the region on disunity and witch hunts among elected leaders in the region. “Those who supported the governor in 2022 are now fighting for his downfall. This has badly affected development. We should all respect elected leaders and give them time to serve the people until their five-year term ends in 2027,” he advised.

Samboja further said some of his development projects he had initiated had been neglected by the current administration. He promised to complete them when elected as governor in the next polls.

“I had initiated health, water, education and roads projects for the benefit of the local community, but the county administration has neglected them and started new ones. I promise to revive them when elected as the next governor,” he assured his supporters.

Meanwhile, Governor Mwadime has challenged his political rivals who want to unseat him from his seat to concentrate on delivering on their promise first.

“At the end of this five-year period there is a prescribed campaign period so that every prospective aspirant gets a fair chance to sell their agenda to the electorate. This is the foundation of our democracy, and this is the way it should be done,” Mwadime told his political rivals.

“We seem to have some leaders who want to play their politics using a different script. To them, any time and every time is time for politics; they play politics in churches, in mosques, in schools, in sports festivities and even in front of bereaved families during funerals. “This disruptive and time-wasting practice must be condemned in the strongest terms possible,” added the governor.