Westlands Member of Parliament Tim Wanyonyi has expressed his disappointment in being asked to shelve his gubernatorial ambitions in Nairobi County but has maintained that his time to clinch the position would soon come.

He was speaking on Citizen TV's JKL Show on Wednesday, May 12 where he elucidated his reasons for the exit from the race, stating that he did not want to go against his party leader Raila Odinga's wishes, and therefore declared his support for Jubilee's Polycarp Igathe who was a late entrant into the contest.

Wanyonyi stated that it was a difficult decision for him, as he has amassed quite a following within the county, and was leading in many opinion polls as the most preferred candidate for the next governor of Nairobi, which he believes caught Nairobi residents unawares and they are still recovering from the blow.

“I was leading across the board and I will tell you that Nairobi is adjusting to that because the players now I know some will get the fallback. Igathe is going to have to fight hard,” he said.

He however maintained that he still has the best interests of Nairobi citizens at heart, hence his decision to fall back and defend his Westlands parliamentary seat, hopeful that he would have a shot at the county's top job in the next polls.

“This is politics, you might think it is cowardice but you live to fight another day and I am sure if it (the governorship) was meant to me it will come,” Wanyonyi added.

The MP was speaking in a panel comprising presidential aspirant Reuben Kigame and Nominated MP Dennitah Ghati who spoke on the challenges of seeking electives posts as people living with disabilities.

Wanyonyi detailed how being confined in a wheelchair changed his life, recounting the carjacking ordeal in 1998 that took his ability to walk after he was shot while making his way home from work. 

The legislators said that his life took a drastic turn for the better when he accepted his fate, despite numerous rejections at his former workplace that instilled in him a fighting spirit that saw him become a successful lawyer with his own law firm, and propelled him to become the Westlands Member of Parliament.

He will be defending his seat on an Orange Democratic Movement(ODM) ticket come August 9 and will be facing United Democratic Alliance(UDA) aspirant and former Law Society President, Nelson Havi.