41 Facts About Martha Karua

Martha Karua is a former long-standing member of parliament for Gichugu Constituency and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

Martha Karua was Minister for Justice until resigning from that position in April 2009.

Martha Karua has consistently fought for the protection of women's rights and improvements to the democratic process.

Martha Karua was picked to run for deputy president after being nominated as the running mate of presidential candidate Raila Odinga in the 2022 Kenyan general election.

The daughter of Jackson Karua and his wife Josephine Wanjiru, Martha Karua was born on 22 September 1957 in the then larger Embu District in the Central Province of Kenya.

Martha Karua attended Mugumo primary school, Kabare Girls Boarding School, St Michael's boarding school Keroguya.

Martha Karua later attended Kiburia Girls Secondary School, Ngiriambu Girl's secondary school, and Karoti Girl's secondary schools where she passed her East African School Certificate at Karoti Girls High School in Kirinyaga County.

Martha Karua then attended Nairobi Girl's secondary school for A levels.

Martha Karua studied law at the University of Nairobi from 1977 to 1980.

Martha Karua's work contributed to family law, especially in regard to matrimonial property.

Martha Karua was a member of the opposition political movements that successfully agitated for the re-introduction of multi-party democracy in Kenya in the early 1990s.

Martha Karua became the MP for Gichugu constituency and the first woman lawyer to be popularly elected to Parliament.

Martha Karua was elected as the Democratic party's legal affairs secretary in 1993.

In 1998, Martha Karua declined the position of Shadow Minister for Culture and Social Services which conflicted with her position of National Secretary for Constitutional Affairs that made her the official spokesperson on legal matters of the party.

Martha Karua opted to resign her position as the National Secretary for legal and constitutional Affairs.

In 2001, when the Constitutional Review Bill was laid before the House, the entire Opposition with the exception of Martha Karua walked out of Parliament.

The Bill had been rejected by the Opposition as well as Civil Society but Martha Karua was of the view that as elected representatives, instead of walking out, it would be more prudent to remain in Parliament and put the objections on record.

Martha Karua therefore chose to remain in the Parliament and her objections to the Bill were duly recorded in the Hansard.

Martha Karua remained Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister in the Cabinet appointed by Kibaki on 8 January 2008, following the controversial December 2007 election.

Martha Karua headed the government's team in negotiations with the opposition regarding the political dispute that resulted from the election.

Martha Karua was endorsed as the national chairperson of the NARC-Kenya political party on 15 November 2008.

Martha Karua resigned as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs on 6 April 2009, citing frustrations in discharging her duties.

Martha Karua was the first Minister to resign voluntarily since 2003.

Martha Karua contested the 2013 Kenyan presidential election, under the NARC Kenya party ticket.

Martha Karua came in sixth with 43,881 votes in a contested election outcome.

Martha Karua would make a come-back in Kenya's political scene in the 2017 general election seeking for a gubernatorial seat in Kirinyaga County.

Martha Karua lost to Anne Waiguru in a heavily contested election after garnering 122,091 votes against Waiguru's 161,373 votes.

Martha Karua contested the election citing election irregularities and filed a petition at the High Court seeking to have Waiguru's election nullified, losing the petition at the High court through Court of Appeal and ultimately at the Supreme Court.

Martha Karua proceeded to file a petition in the East African Court of Justice, suing Kenyan government for failure of its Judicial arm to dispense justice in the petition.

Martha Karua was among the opposition leaders who President Obama met when he was hosted by Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015 in Obama's only presidential visit to Kenya.

Martha Karua later abandoned her political relationship with Raila and supported Jubilee Party ahead of the 2017 Kenyan general election.

In December 2015 Martha Karua admitted to receiving a Ksh 2 million donation to her presidential campaign costs from British American Tobacco.

Martha Karua said that she thought that the contribution by Paul Hopkins, a BAT employee, was a personal donation.

Martha Karua has the reputation of being untainted by corruption save for this report of donation of alleged tainted money.

Martha Karua has maintained that she cannot be corrupted and invited Kenyan authorities to investigate any alleged wrong doing.

On 20 September 2021, Martha Karua was unanimously elected as the Interim Mount Kenya Unity Forum Spokesperson by a section of leaders from Central Kenya.

At one time in her Kirinyaga District when KANU was still in power, Martha Karua walked out on President Moi who was then addressing a crowd at the district's stadium.

Martha Karua has been an activist for the widening of democratic space and gender issues in Kenya.

Martha Karua has been involved in championing women's rights through public interest litigation, lobbying and advocacy for laws that enhance and protect women's rights.

Martha Karua is a mother to two children, and a grandmother to many grandkids.

In 1991, Martha Karua was recognized by Human Rights Watch as a human rights monitor.