Martha Wangari Karua Biography
Martha Karua was born on the 22nd of September 1957 in Kirinyaga District, Central Province of Kenya as the second born in a family of eight siblings, four girls and four boys.
She had a humble
upbringing that instilled in her lessons and values she still carries today.
Martha attended Mugumo primary school, Kabare Girls Boarding School before joining
Kiburia Girl’s secondary school, and then had a stint at Ngiriambu Girls High
School before settling at Karoti Girls where she sat for her East African
School Certificate.
She then proceeded to
Nairobi Girls High School (now State House High School) where after passing her
EASCE embarked on her A levels.
Upon successful completion
of her A levels, she joined the University of Nairobi where she enrolled for a
law degree from 1977 to 1980.
Between 1980 and 1981 she
was enrolled at the Kenya School of Law for the statutory post graduate law
course that is a prerequisite to admission to the Kenyan roll of advocates and
licensing to practice law in Kenya
Karua worked as a magistrate in various courts
including those at Makadara, Nakuru and Kibera, receiving credit for careful discernment.
In 1987, she left to start
her own law firm, Martha Karua & Co. Advocates, which she ran until 2002. Cases included the
treason trial of Koigi Wamwere and that of the Kenyan Member of Parliament Mirugi
Kariuki.
Karua was a member of the
opposition political movements that successfully agitated for the
reintroduction of multi-party democracy in Kenya in the early 1990s. Kenya was
at the time under the authoritarian rule of the Kenya African National Union
(KANU), the only legally recognised political party in Kenya and which was led
by President Daniel Arap Moi.
Martha Karua joined
Kenneth Matiba's Ford-Asili party but lost the party nomination ticket to the
wealthy and influential former Head of Public Service Geoffrey Kareithi. She
was then offered a ticket and support by the Democratic Party of Kenya (DP)
elders who wanted a clean break from the Kareithi – Nahashon Njuno rivalry.
Karua won the 1992 general election to become the MP for Gichugu constituency
and the first woman lawyer to be popularly elected to Parliament. She was also
appointed as the party's legal affairs secretary between 1992 and 1997.
In 1998, Karua declined the position of Shadow
Minister for Culture and Social Services which conflicted with her position of
National Secretary for Constitutional Affairs (an elected office) that made her
the official spokesperson on legal matters of the party. She opted to resign
her position as the National Secretary.
In 2001, when the
Constitutional Review Bill was laid before the House, the entire Opposition
with the exception of Karua walked out of Parliament. The Bill had been
rejected by the Opposition as well as Civil Society but 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. She therefore
chose to remain in the Parliament and her objections to the Bill were duly
recorded in the Hansard.
Until 6 April 2009 she was the Minister of
Justice, National Cohesion & Constitutional Affairs. She also previously
served as the Minister of Water Resources Management & Development, and was
behind the implementation of the Water Act 2002, which has since then
accelerated the pace of water reforms and service provision in Kenya.
Martha Karua resigned as
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs on 6 April 2009, citing
frustrations in discharging her duties. A clear example of her frustrations was
when President Mwai Kibaki appointed Judges without her knowledge a few days
before her resignation. She was the first Minister to resign voluntarily since
2003.
Karua contested the 2013 Kenyan presidential election,
under the NARC Kenya party ticket. New Kenyan law barred presidential
contenders from simultaneously seeking a parliamentary seat, so she had to give
up her interest in her somewhat safe Gichugu seat, with potential risk of being
cast out of politics altogether (if she lost her presidential bid). She 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. She lost to the current Governor Anne
Waiguru in a heavily contested election after garnering 122, 091 votes
against Ms Waiguru's 161,373 votes. Karua contested the election citing
election irregularities and filed a petition at the High Court seeking to have
Waiguru's election nullified but lost the petition's at the High court, Court
of Appeal and ultimately at the Supreme Court. Karua proceeded to file a
petition in the East African Court of Justice suing kenya government for
failure of its Judicial arm to dispense justice in the petition. She 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.
Politically, she seems to have inclined toward CORD, the main opposition
political outfit led by Raila Odinga , even though she and Raila have
been long-standing political foes and for a long time seemed the most unlikely
of political allies. Karua later abandoned her political relationship with
Raila.
In December 2015 Karua admitted to receiving a kshs two million
"donation" to her presidential campaign costs from British
American Tobacco. Karua said that she thought that the contribution by Paul
Hopkins, a BAT employee, was a personal donation. The money was paid via Mary
M'Mukindia who was running Karua's campaign. Karua has the reputation of
being untainted by corruption save for this report of donation of alleged
tainted money. No culpability has been proven and the British investigations
concluded without any charges against Paul Hopkins. Karua has maintained that
she cannot be corrupted and invited Kenyan authorities to investigate any
alleged wrong doing. Karua was defeated on 8 August 2017 by Anne Waiguru in
controversial election outcome.
At one time in her Kirinyaga District when KANU was still in
power, Karua walked out on President Moi who was then addressing a
crowd in the district stadium. This was an unusual display of open defiance
against Moi, who was then feared and ruled the country as an authoritarian.
She has been an activist for the widening of democratic space
and gender issues in Kenya. She has been involved in championing women's rights
through public interest litigation, lobbying and advocacy for laws that enhance
and protect women's rights through her work with various women's organizations,
particularly the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya) and the
League of Kenya Women Voters.
In February 2009 during her time as Minister of Justice,
she once had a heated argument with the Minister of Agriculture William
Ruto at a cabinet meeting as the President sat quietly, watching the sparring
ministers, a source at the meeting said: "The President did not say or do
anything. He just sat there quietly watching as the ministers took on each
other. It was chaotic, hot and eruptive." The two ministers had been
sparring in public over a period of three weeks, with Karua demanding Ruto's
resignation over a maize scandal.
She was referred to as "the only man" in the
PNU Cabinet, despite the fact that all the other Cabinet members were
men. Karua served as Minister for Water between 2003-2005 December and
initiated the water sector reforms that devolved the management of water
service leading to improved services.
On 20 September 2021, Senior Counsel Martha Karua was
unanimously elected as the Interim Mount Kenya Unity Forum Spokesperson by a
section of leaders from Central Kenya. “We have chosen Martha Karua to be our
official convener and our spokesperson,” Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria.
In 1991, Karua was recognized by Human Rights Watch as
a human rights monitor.
In December 1995, she was awarded by the Federation of Kenya
Women Lawyers (F.I.D.A) for advancing the cause of women.
In 1999 the Kenya Section of the International Commission of
Jurists awarded her the 1999 Kenya Jurist of the Year and in the same year same
month, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) awarded her the Legal Practitioners Due
Diligence Award.
No comments: