History as Raila picks Martha Karua as running mate

ODM leader Raila Odinga today made history by picking Nark Kenya leader Marth Karua as his running mate in the upcoming presidential election.

Should the Raila-Karua ticket prevail in August, then Martha Karua will become the 1st woman to be elected Deputy President of Kenya since independent.

“At the age of 24, this woman was appointed a magistrate, years later she became the youngest woman MP, she led a team of lawyers to represent me when I was in detention, this woman is a fighter and not a quitter,” Raila described Karua.

Who is Martha Karua?

Born on September 22, 1957 in Kirinyaga, Karua has made a name for herself as a veteran of Kenya’s pro-democracy movements of the 1990s. She attended Kabare Girls Boarding School, Kiburia Girl’s Secondary School, Ngiriambu Girls and later Karoti Girls where she did her East African School Certificate.

She later studied law at the University of Nairobi from 1977 to 1980 and later joined the Kenya School of Law between 1980-1981 after which she was appointed a Magistrate sitting at the Makadara and Kibera law courts until 1987 when she founded her law firm Martha & Co.

In 1992, Martha was elected to parliament as MP for Gichugu for four consecutive terms and was appointed by former president Mwai Kibaki to be the Minister for Water and later moved to the Ministry of Justice and Constituinal Affairs where she served until 2012 when she resigned to found the NARC Kenya party.

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