Nzioka Waita address pressure to back out of Machakos gubernatorial race

State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita has come out to address the pressure being mounted on him to drop his Machakos gubernatorial bid by a section of influential politicians.

Addressing the media, Waita made it clear that he will not stepped down in favour of any of his competitors eyeing the Machakos seat.

“I have been under pressure from Senior politicians in Ukambani region who want me to back out of the race and give way for my competitors to battle it out. I want to state categorically that I’ll not drop out of the race,” Nzioka Waita said.

Waita also promised to rally his support behind Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga, ahead of the August general election.

“I will say it out rightly, that when I embark on campaigns to sell my manifesto to the people of Machakos through the party I will be vying with, we will be in support of Hon. Raila Odinga. We will support him until gets to State house. Azimio la Umoja is the right vehicle for this country tight now and its good my people in Ukambani join me on this journey and unite with other Kenyans in protecting our country,” said Nzioka Waita.

Waita joined the Machakos gubernatorial race on January 4th, 2021. He rolled out his campaign through ads on many billboards across Machakos with the message “Masaku Mbee 2022”.

He promised to deliver on health, water, education, markets, an enabling environment for job creation and investment attraction, and ward level development.

If he succeeds, Machakos will have it's second former State House operative at the helm. Incumbent Governor Alfred Mutua resigned as Government Spokesman to join politics in 2013.

President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita (right) ece-auto-gen

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Nzioka is expected to resign by the end of February 2022 and join other civil servants who have declared an interest in politics.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s final lap will see many State House operatives including Cabinet Secretaries resign on or before February 9.

Other candidates who have declared interest in the Machakos Governor seat include former Transport CAS Wavinya Ndeti, Machakos assembly speaker Florence Mwangangi, Mavoko MP Patrick Makau, Deputy Governor Francis Maliti, city lawyer Kyatha Mbaluka, United Democratic Alliance chairman Johnson Muthama and former Machakos Assembly Speaker Bernard Mung’ata.