Ex Water CS Sicily Kariuki has bowed out of the Nyandarua gubernatorial bid in favor of the incumbent governor Francis Kimemia.
Addressing the media at the Jubilee Party headquarters on Thursday the former CS said she had decided to pave way for the sitting governor after a deep soul searching and deep reflection.
“It’s been a lot of soul searching, consultation after another and I finally decided to sacrifice. Leadership is about sacrifice, you cannot lead people without sacrificing and dropping my bid does not in any way mean I have no power, I will take another action and will serve Nyandarua people at another level,” she said.
Mrs. Kariuki stated that despite opinion polls ranking her as one of the favourites, she had resorted to drop the bid to avoid unending stalemate within the political outfit.
“There comes a time when a nation is more important than an individual. This is where I have found myself from last week, that we have been caught up with a stalemate and a looming deadline for the party to submit the party list to IEBC,”she stated.
“This decision is for the greater good of our county and the unity of the people of Nyandarua and the nation at large,”Kariuki added.
In the company of her husband Zabby Kariuki, Mrs. Kariuki stated that she will now be focusing her energies at supporting Azimio – One Kenya Alliance candidate at the county and presidential level.
“Moving forward I will continue to support Azimio coalition and I will apply in supporting Jubilee party and the presidential candidate Raila Odinga to ensure successful outcome of the August 9th polls,”said Kariuki.
Jubilee Party’s Director of Election Kanini Kega said the party settled at governor Kimemia following a consensus reaching between the rival candidates.
“We want to thank you for postponing the opportunity to serve the people of Nyandarua. The process we have used has high chances of transforming our candidates to electoral positions,”said Kega.
Jeremiah Kioni, Jubilee Party’s Secretary General thanked the Former CS for publicly declaring her support for the party ever since she aimed at clinching the Nyandarua top seat.
“Without a doubt I want to say that Cecily joined Jubilee when they said its dead.It’s takes courage to step aside to avoid a stalemate,”he said.
On February, Kariuki resigned as the Cabinet Secretary for Water and Irrigation as stipulated in the law for public servants seeking political ambitions to resign