Ganze Member of Parliament Teddy Mwambire is a man that has seen it all. The lawmaker hails from a poor background and boasts a story that can best be told over a bonfire.
The MP rose from working menial jobs to make ends meet to fighting for the rights of his constituents in parliament.
In an interview with YouTuber Brian Ochieng, Mwambire revealed that his father was a coconut tree tapper. His earning were not enough to cater for his big family. This forced the Ganze MP to seek employment so that he could help fend off for their family needs.
File image of Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire. |Photo| Courtesy|
Since his father could not educate all his children at once, he would allow one of them to join Class One only after the elder one had reached Class Four. This enabled him ease the financial burden that came with having to pay huge sums of money as fees at the same time.
"The job my father had was very dynamic and he couldn't facilitate all the issues we had, to the extent we used to engage in manual jobs to raise money for upkeep and even education," Mwambire recounted.
"I remember being employed as a herder whereby then, we used to get Ksh10 per day," he added.
He quit herding and moved to Malindi in 1993 where he was employed as a houseboy earning Ksh400 per month.
Later on, he quits the job and earned himself a job working for a passion juice vendor in the same town. A packet went for Ksh 5 and Mwambire was on Ksh 500 a month.
"I went to sell passion juice, at the time a packet was Ksh 5. I was being paid Ksh500 per month, and by that time I had even chosen to drop out of school so that I could concentrate on my business and invest in other income generation activities," Mwambire narrated.
He later fell and returned home. After regaining full health, he was enrolled in school and sat for his KCPE exams from Madamani Primary School in 1994.
The Ganze legislator joined Mariakani Secondary School where a role as deputy house captain enabled him to sharpen his leadership skills.
Mwambire trained as a clerk after high school and was recruited by a law firm. However, he had other interests and left to join a human rights organisation as a human rights officer.
He noted that he is proud of the milestones he achieved as a human rights champion, which enabled him to succeed as a politician.
The lawmaker also attributes his success to the struggles he underwent growing up.
"Remembering that I was once a houseboy, a herder, I am proud of what I have become," Mwambire stated.
"Poverty is a deterrent but also it good because it hardens people to think outside the box, what I would urge people from a not well to do family is, let them not feel condemned but, fight very hard, like a wounded lion," he adviced.
In 2013, Mwambire contested the Sokoke Ward representative seat and was successfully elected. Yet again, his election to the National assembly in 2017, Mwambire attributed to his resume serving at the ward level.
He was on both occasions elected on an ODM ticket.
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