Water Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki spoke about the surprising nature of her appointment to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cabinet.

Speaking in an interview on Citizen television, the CS revealed that she learned of her hiring at the head of the Ministry of Devolution in 2015 during a television program.

Kariuki further noted that earlier today she was contacted and urged not to leave the city of Nairobi at the request of the Head of State.

“The Cabinet promotion that took place on November 24, 2015 surprised me as it did other Kenyans. The 24th was a Thursday. I remember (at the time) I was on the board of the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and I was in Gigiri for a board meeting.

“I got a call and was told, ‘We need you. Don’t go out of town, the boss might want to talk to you, “” she said.

After receiving the call, she added, she spent the afternoon not knowing what to expect.

“You quickly start to think about what’s wrong. Did I do something wrong? The rest of the afternoon I couldn’t work because I was just anxious.

“We did not have the conversation as I had been prepared and in the evening there was the news of a cabinet reshuffle. Like every other Kenya, I was watching and listening. It just surprised me.” , Kariuki said.

Since joining the civil service, Kariuki’s career has been on an upward trajectory since she served as Senior Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.

In her interview, she noted that she was at the forefront of developing the footprint upon which the then newly established Ministry of Devolution would base its operations.

In the Cabinet, she headed certain influential ministries including that of the Public Service as well as the Health file.

Apart from this, Kariuki is also a respected businesswoman having served as an officer at the Kenya Investment Authority as well as managing director of the Tea Board of Kenya.

CS Sicily Kariuki Water File Image

To file