Life and times of ‘Iron Lady’ Martha Karua

By Maina Muiruri

Ms Martha Wangari Karua’s resignation on Monday was not her first time to depart in a huff.

Nor was it the first time she has been seen to plunge her legal and political career into risk.

Karua’s most enduring image of defiance was when, in 1997, she waved a clenched fist sign of her then Democratic Party (DP) and walked out of a public rally addressed by former President Moi. The rally had been organised by then Kirinyaga Kanu chairman, the late Philip Ndegwa, at Kerugoya Stadium, but it dawned on Karua that she and Matere Keriri (then Ndia MP) were omitted from the speakers’ list.

Karua walked down the podium, and as the crowd cheered, waved the DP salute as she stole the show on her way out. Off the eye of the camera, presidential security men followed her to her car and made as if to arrest her, but she stood her ground and dared them to do it.

They left her alone.

Her firm stand and reasoned argument on issues she believes in have variously earned her the title ‘Iron Lady’ of Kenyan politics.

Her resignation on Monday will be the starkest severance of ties with President Kibaki with whom she teamed up when he formed DP in 1991.

Her letter to the President, which she describes as ‘brief’, may include undertones of the long way the two have come under one political umbrella, culminating to the countdown to the announcement of the presidential results last year when she played a key role for Kibaki in countering ODM’s challenge.

Karua went on after the controversial elections to defend Kibaki and PNU, including sticking her neck outright like when she endured booing in Sotik at Lorna Laboso’s funeral.

Young Turks

Before joining politics, Karua made a name among then ‘Young Turks", who spearheaded the force to re-introduce multi-party politics in the early 1990s.

Often, she would be in the company of lawyers Paul Muite, Gitobu Imanyara, James Orengo and others who started championing the rights of opposition politicians, representing them in courts across the country.

At the Sana CafÈ on Wabera Street, a popular meeting point for then activist lawyers, opposite the High Court and near her Standard House practice office, Karua and colleagues Martha Koome (now a judge) were common figures.

When her chance at parliamentary politics came in 1992, Karua, aged 35, trounced former Chief Secretary Geoffrey Kareithi and the late Nahashon Njuno for the Gichugu seat.

The former Justice minister was born in Kirinyaga District on September 22, 1957.

She attended three secondary schools for her ‘O’ levels: Karoti Girls School, Keburia Girls School, Ngiriambu Girls and Moi Nairobi Girls’ School her for ‘A’ levels.

Karua was admitted to the Bar in April 1982 after which she entered the public service, and worked as a magistrate up to 1987. Between 1987 and 2002, she worked in private practice as an advocate.

By her own admission, she takes challenges head-on. Recently, she told a judges’ forum how, as a new magistrate, she found herself overwhelmed with too many matters on her docket. She asked for advice and a colleague told her to buy time by applying what is known in the profession as ‘SOG’ (stood over generally) — a postponement of court matters.

Karua, a mother of two, has championed gender issues in Kenya. She advocated women rights through public interest litigation, lobbying and agitating for laws that enhance and protect women’s rights through her work with women’s organisations, particularly the International Federation of Women Lawyers and the League of Kenya Women Voters.

As Minister for Water, she implemented the Water Act 2002, which has led to reforms and service provision in the water sector. In 1991, Human Rights Watch recognised Karua as a human rights monitor.

In 1999, the Kenya chapter of the International Commission of Jurists awarded her the 1999 Kenya Jurist of the Year.

— Additional reporting by Peter Orengo and Maseme Machuka