MARTHA KARUA, THE IRON LADY

 

                        Martha Karua, the Iron Lady

She is a lady no new to the public eye, having undertaken weighty roles for decades. Lots of analyses have been done and prompt considerations put in place to settle for Martha Karua, who as the descriptions by many is “The Iron-Lady”. This would imply that she is indeed a perfect choice for the running mate’s position in the Azimio Coalition. She beat many hopefuls e.g. Peter Kenneth, Kalonzo Musyoka, and Peter Munya. Notably, the win has been accompanied by excitement and celebration, in that for the first time in Kenyan history, a woman is set to deputize such a political heavyweight i.e. Hon Raila Odinga.

                


Martha Karua served as the Gichugu constituency member of parliament from 1992, a position she held until 2012, when she had her first stab in presidency (2013). Her record as the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional affairs, until her resignation in 2009 is quite remarkable. This also reflects in her performance as the Minister for Water and Resources Management & Development. The “iron lady” description did not emerge anyhow. She is known as an eloquent articulator of governance and human rights affairs, perhaps backed by her foundation as a lawyer.

                                      


Furthermore, her power in negotiations is bulldozing and is known to strive for her best deal. This began way back in the Moi regime during the struggle for multi-partism, and she (and other leaders) succeeded. Symbolically, she is among the reasons we enjoy an expanded democratic space. Additionally, her profile in light of corruption and other personalities e.g. greed is a powerful score for her. From a general outlook, she is a bright advocate in the social-political sphere, and an inspiration to many leaders. But what more does she need? Definitely there is.

Well, what would have propelled her to contesting for presidency in 2013, where she garnered around 43,000 votes? In 2017, she vied for governorship in Kirinyaga County but lost to Anne Waiguru, even after contesting the outcome by filing a petition up to the East African Court of Justice. Lately, she was highly involved in opposing the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) among whose chief proponents is her current and potential boss, Hon Raila Odinga. This happened in collaboration with other leaders, some of whom are in the rival coalition i.e. Kenya Kwanza Alliance and they include, Moses Kuria and Mwangi Kiunjuri.

                     


The team won, as the BBI process was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Kenya, following an appeal by the proponents. At that point, the inference would be that they’d move together until the election time, possibly by joining William Ruto. They had in a way joined forces to create a “caricature” that painted the grotesqueness and unfitness of RAO esp. in Mt. Kenya region. 

The Mt Kenya Unity Forum, headed by the trio was set to make a major political announcement in the Limuru III Conference, as they had even settled for Karua as their spokesperson.  This however didn’t happen. Regardless, the reality at hand is the Raila-Karua ticket.

As did in the previous blog on Rigathi Gachagua, Esbon’s Submission poses the following: Could this be another “Biden-Harris ticket”? How will the excitement on a female running mate translate into votes, and if so, how will it be countered by their rivals i.e. Kenya Kwanza? What’s the influence/contribution of the extra reinforcement she has now, that she lacked in 2013?  Does she match Gachagua’s energy, if at all she was selected to kinda check-mate him in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region? Ooh, there’s Kalonzo who missed the slot and went ahead to announce his running mate…what about this, cognizant of One-Kenya’s incorporation in Azimio?

                          

 How will her good profile in governance affairs be compared with and incorporated in the present dynamics, to ensure a fit? What about the economic pillar that the people want to hear about? Importantly, how are your needs, as a person or group likely to be addressed by this government? Thank you dear readers 😊

I wish them the very best😊😊

 

 

 

 

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