•Keter resigned on Tuesday and will vie on DP William Ruto's UDA party.
• "I wish to sincerely thank the His Excellency the President for according me the opportunity to serve in his cabinet since 2015."
Devolution CS Charles Keter has resigned to focus on his bid to become the next Kericho Governor.
Keter resigned on Tuesday and will vie on DP William Ruto's UDA party.
"I am resigning from my office in government to focus my energy on contesting for the seat of the county of Kericho," he told a press conference at Treasury buildings.
He is the first Cabinet Secretary to step down.
"I wish to sincerely thank the His Excellency the President for according me the opportunity to serve in his cabinet since 2015 when he nominated me to join his government," Keter said.
Keter resigned as Kericho senator in 2015 to take up a cabinet post, following an appointment by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He had been appointed Energy and Petroleum CS before he was appointed to the Energy docket. He served in the Ministry until last year when he was moved to Devolution.
During his tenure as Energy CS, Keter said electricity access increased to over 75 per cent.
The former Kericho senator said he will embark on succeeding Governor Paul Chepkwony who is serving his final term.
"I have the vision, the commitment and will pursue a development agenda that will grow the economy of county 035, improve the livelihood of my community and transform Kericho to become a model of success," he said.
His resignation is in line with the requirements of the Elections Act 2011, which requires public servants seeking elective positions to step down from their roles at least six months to the General Election.
On February 3, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered civil servants eying elective seats in the August polls to resign.
In a notice issued by the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, the president directed those with political ambitions to vacate their offices before February 8, a day before the deadline set by law.
Together with their resignation letters, Kinyua said all officers should provide details of work plans in progress, annotate all public assets handed over as well as issue the status of priority National development programmes and projects.