Profile of Martha Karua: Early Life, Education, Family, Career, and Net Worth
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Martha Wangari Karua is a Kenyan lawyer and politician whose career has spanned more than four decades in the judiciary, legal practice, and public service.
She was born on September 22, 1957. She has served as a magistrate, Member of Parliament, Cabinet minister, and presidential candidate, becoming one of Kenya’s most prominent female political figures.
Karua was born in the former Embu District, which is now Kirinyaga County, and grew up in Kamunye village in Gichugu.
She is the daughter of Mwalimu Jackson Karua, a schoolteacher, and Josephine Wanjiru, and is the second-born in a family of eight children.
Martha Karua’s Early Life
Her upbringing in rural Central Kenya has featured prominently in accounts of her early life and public service journey.
In her education, Karua attended Mugumo Primary School before studying at Kabare Girls Boarding School and St. Michael’s Boarding School in Kerugoya.
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Later, she joined Kiburia Girls Secondary School, Ngiriambu Girls Secondary School, and Karoti Girls High School, where she completed her East African School Certificate.
For her A Level studies, she went to Nairobi Girls’ School before she enrolled at the University of Nairobi, where she got her Bachelor of Laws Degree between 1977 and 1980.
Education
Then she completed the Advocates Training Programme at the Kenya School of Law in 1981, qualifying as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Further, she obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from USIU-Africa.
On the other hand, she began her legal career in 1981 while serving as a magistrate in courts in Nakuru, Makadara and Kibra.
Before leaving the judiciary in 1987, she had risen to the rank of Senior Resident; then she went to establish her own firm, Karua and Advocates.
Karua And Advocates
In the firm, she handled criminal, civil, and constitutional matters. During the 1990s, she represented political detainees and human rights activists, including Koigi wa Wamwere, and became associated with lawyers pushing for democratic reforms and the restoration of multiparty democracy in Kenya.
Apart from law, Karua entered elective politics in 1992, and she won the Gichugu Parliamentary seat, which she served until 2013.
During President Mwai Kibaki’s tenure, she served as Minister for Water Resources Management and Development from 2003 to 2005 before becoming Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs from 2005 until her resignation in 2009.
However, she resigned, saying there were disagreements over governance and reform issues before she went to help create another political party.
Political Party
NARC-Kenya was established in 2006 and was later renamed the People’s Liberation Party (PLP). Karua then contested the presidency seat in 2013, becoming one of the few women to seek Kenya’s highest office.
2022, she became the first woman to be nominated as a running mate on a major presidential ticket when she joined Raila Odinga’s campaign for the deputy president seat.
In addition, she has continued to play an active role in opposition politics and regional legal advocacy, including representing Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu in legal matters.
Over the years, Karua has received several honours for her legal and public service work, including the 1999 Kenya Jurist of the Year Award by the Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists.
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On the same note, she has also been recognized by organizations such as FIDA Kenya, Human Rights Watch and the Law Society of Kenya for her work in human rights and legal reform.
In her personal life, Karua is a mother of two children. She has kept her family life largely private while having an active public career as both a lawyer and politician.
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Senior Counsel and PLP Party Leader Martha Karua during a funeral service in Kisii on May 15
PHOTO/Karua
