Martha Wangari Karua is a Kenyan politician. She is a former long-standing member of parliament for Gichugu Constituency and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She was Minister for Justice until resigning from that position in April 2009. She has consistently fought for the protection of women’s rights and improvements to the democratic process.
Karua ran for presidency in 2013 under the Narc-Kenya ticket making her the third woman to run for the highest office, after Charity Ngilu and Wangari Maathai in the 1997 elections.
Karua became a member of Kenneth Matiba’s Ford-Asili party. In September 1992, she stepped out of the party leadership elections, which she saw as rigged, allowing her single opponent, Geoffrrey Karekia Kariithi, to be proclaimed the winner.
She attended several schools in her education journey. She started off at Mugumo Primary School, moved to Kabare Girls Boarding School and then St Michael’s boarding school in Kerugoya.
In April 2009 Martha Karua resigned as the Minister of Justice for what she termed as interference from the highest office in the ministry’s pursuit of judicial reforms. Rather than compromise her values and principles she walked away from being a key member of the government she has been a part of.
Despite her resignation, Martha has continued her commitment to serving Kenyans more than ever as a backbencher and party leader in NARC Kenya.
Outside politics Martha Karua is a mother of one son and a daughter.Her daughter’s name is Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg who currently serves as the Executive Director of Rise, a joint initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust.
She serves as Managing Director for Africa at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (part of the CGIAR global agricultural research network). In this position, she leads efforts to advance sustainable agriculture, food security, nutrition, climate resilience, and inclusive agricultural research and innovation tailored to African contexts. Her work emphasizes gender-responsive approaches and leveraging science for equitable prosperity.
She is an assistant Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco; Lecturer in International Relations at Hekima College (Kenya). Her research explores African politics, gender, ethnicity, democratization, philanthropy, and technology in activism. PhD and MA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota; BA from Whitman College also awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
Other leadership: Executive in Residence at Schmidt Futures; inaugural director of the Rise Program Schmidt Futures and Rhodes Trust); Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation.