Kariuki said she found the decision painful, particularly because she had already resigned from Cabinet to focus on the gubernatorial race. She resigned as Water CS on February 9, 2022, to pursue the Nyandarua governorship.
In an interview with a vernacular radio station on Monday, she described the tense talks that led her to withdraw from the Jubilee Party nominations. Kimemia, she said, was the government’s preferred candidate.
The two camps could not agree on who should carry the Jubilee ticket, and the nominations stalled. State House emissaries then stepped in to encourage negotiations.
“When Jubilee nominations became difficult, we had to resort to negotiations,” Kariuki said.
As the campaign entered its final stretch, Uhuru sent emissaries to persuade her to negotiate with Kimemia, she said.
“Politics are not conducted that way. The party [Jubilee] came and appeared to interfere. I told the president that given that the sitting governor [Kimemia] was State’s candidate, we may not be able to reach an agreement because I had my own interests. I also knew why I had resigned from the Cabinet,” she said.
Kariuki said Uhuru later called her directly and asked her to return to Nairobi to help former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his running mate, Martha Karua, build support in Nyandarua ahead of the 2022 General Election. She said he promised to find her a position in an Odinga administration if the Azimio presidential candidate won.
“Lastly, the President, in his own wisdom, called me. He told me that he would like me to retreat to Nairobi to go and support the late Raila and Karua on how they will penetrate to Nyandarua. He told me that they would find a place for me in Raila’s government,” she recalled.
Kariuki said she did not make her decision immediately. Uhuru sent several emissaries to persuade her to leave the race, and she consulted her family.
“After a lot of agony, several emissaries were sent to me. [Uhuru] was not directly telling me to step aside for the sake of someone. I consulted with my family,” she said.
“They asked me, ‘Can you compete with the President? Someone who gave you a job, yet you had not bribed him….’”
She said she asked Uhuru for three days to consider the request before announcing her withdrawal from the Nyandarua race. Kariuki maintained that she stepped aside out of respect for her former boss, not because she had agreed to give up her ambitions for Kimemia.
“To Nyandarua residents, I did not step down for someone. I stepped down because of the respect I had for Uhuru, who was my boss,” she said.
Kariuki said the experience left her disappointed and conflicted. She questioned why Uhuru had allowed her to resign from Cabinet if he intended to ask her to abandon the gubernatorial contest.
“I was in a state of mixed feelings. Temporarily I got very disappointed, because he [Uhuru] couldn’t have allowed me to resign from the Cabinet,” she said.
Kariuki has since joined the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) and is among the politicians seeking its ticket to challenge incumbent Governor Kiarie Badilisha in the 2027 General Election. Badilisha is also seeking re-election through DCP, setting up a potentially competitive contest for the party’s nomination.
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