Martha Karua ✓ Verified

candidate · President, Kenya · People's Liberation Party

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Martha Wangari Karua is the iron lady of Kenyan politics: magistrate turned second-liberation lawyer, reforming justice minister, and party leader now making her boldest bid yet for the presidency. She defended political prisoners when doing so was dangerous, held Gichugu for two decades from 1993, and steered the justice docket through the 2005 constitutional referendum and the 2008 National Accord talks before resigning on principle in April 2009 over judicial appointments made without her knowledge. In 2022 she became the first woman on a leading Kenyan presidential ticket as Raila Odinga's running mate. She leads the People's Liberation Party, the NARC-Kenya she rebranded in February 2025, and sits in the United Opposition alongside Kalonzo Musyoka, Eugene Wamalwa and Justin Muturi. Her regional human rights work has twice seen her deported, from Tanzania in May 2025 and from Uganda in June 2026.

Experience

Professional

Regional Human Rights Counsel

East African Courts and Tribunals 2015, present

Has appeared for opposition figures across the region, including Kizza Besigye in Uganda and Tundu Lissu in Tanzania. She was deported from Tanzania on 18 May 2025 on arrival in Dar es Salaam, and detained at Entebbe and deported from Uganda on 22 June 2026 while supporting Besigye. She has also litigated at the East African Court of Justice against the Kenyan government over judicial failure.
Presidential Candidate

People's Liberation Party 2012, present

Ran for president on the NARC-Kenya ticket in 2013, placing sixth with 43,881 votes and giving up her safe Gichugu seat to do so, since the 2010 Constitution bars running for two offices at once. She carries the party into the 2027 race under its People’s Liberation Party name.
Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs

Government of Kenya 2004-2008

Ran the justice, national cohesion and constitutional affairs docket through the 2005 constitutional referendum and the 2008 crisis talks that produced the National Accord, resigning in 2009 over stalled judicial reforms.
Minister for Water Resources Management and Development

Government of Kenya 2003-2005

Held the water docket from 3 January 2003 to 24 November 2005 in the first NARC government, implementing the Water Act 2002 that separated policy from regulation and service delivery and created the water services boards.
MP, Gichugu
1991-2012
former
District Magistrate

Judiciary of Kenya 1980-1987

Sat as a magistrate at Makadara, Nakuru and Kibera courts from 1981 to 1987, earning a reputation for careful discernment, before leaving the bench for private practice and the political fight over multiparty democracy.
Advocate

High Court of Kenya 1980, present

Served as a district magistrate through most of the 1980s, then opened her own practice in 1987, taking on political and human rights briefs, including landmark election petitions, that put her at the heart of the multiparty struggle.
Party Leader

People's Liberation Party

Leads the People's Liberation Party, the renamed NARC-Kenya she has fronted since 2008. She was Azimio's deputy-presidential running mate in 2022 and now carries the party's banner into the 2027 presidential race.

Education

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

United States International University Africa (USIU-Africa)

Mid-career business administration degree from USIU-Africa in Nairobi, taken to add management depth to a public career spent in courtrooms, cabinet and party leadership rather than in business or the academy.
Diploma in Law (Advocates Training Programme)

Kenya School of Law 1979-1980

Completed the advocates training programme at the Kenya School of Law and was admitted to the roll of advocates in 1981, the professional gateway to her long courtroom career and later stewardship of the justice ministry.
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)

University of Nairobi 1976-1979

Read law at the University of Nairobi from 1977 to 1980. Her legal training carried her through a magistracy and into the human rights litigation of the 1990s that made her one of the second-liberation movement's leading lawyers.

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Contact

Nairobi Liberation House, Woodlands Road, off Lenana Road.

Delivered

MP, Gichugu (1991 to 2012)

1. Held Gichugu for two decades, 1993 to 2013 Won the seat in the December 1992 multiparty election against incumbent Geoffrey Karekia Kariithi and held it from 26 January 1993 to 28 March 2013, becoming the first woman lawyer popularly elected to the Kenyan Parliament.
2. Recorded the lone objection to the 2001 Constitutional Review Bill Opposed the Bill but stayed in the chamber as the only opposition member present, so that the objections would enter the Hansard record rather than disappear with a walkout.

Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, Government of Kenya (2004 to 2008)

1. Led the government team in the 2008 National Accord talks Headed the government negotiating team through the mediation that ended the 2007 to 2008 post-election violence and produced the National Accord and the grand coalition government announced on 13 April 2008.
2. Resigned from Cabinet on principle in April 2009 Quit the justice docket on 6 April 2009 after President Kibaki appointed judges without her knowledge, citing frustration at being unable to discharge her duties. She was the first minister to resign voluntarily since 2003.

Minister for Water Resources Management and Development, Government of Kenya (2003 to 2005)

1. Implemented the Water Act 2002 Rolled out the reform that split water policy, regulation and service delivery and stood up the water services boards, accelerating provision in the first years of the NARC government.

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