'I had to grab the mic': Karua recalls fighting for her space in Ford Asili

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

What you need to know:

- Martha Karua urges women aspirants to scrutinise parties and demand fairness before seeking elective seats.

- Karua recalls how switching parties transformed her political career and opened her path to Parliament.

Kenyan women aspiring to elective seats have been cautioned to carefully weigh their party choices if they want any chance of success.

According to People Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua, most female politicians’ careers die prematurely or remain as mere decorations, showcased as symbols of gender inclusivity, solely because of the political parties on whose tickets they choose to run.

The senior counsel emphasised the need for women to scrutinise their parties, ask hard questions and, if need be, make decisive moves to survive the treacherous political terrain, particularly for women leaders.

She spoke at the Women and Youth Convention 2026 in Nairobi last week, where she was the chief guest. The event, themed ‘Enhancing Inclusive Electoral Governance through Women- and Youth-led Advocacy and Policy Engagements', was convened by the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (Kewopa).

Thirty-four years ago, at the start of her career as a young female politician, she had to scramble for a microphone just to get a chance to address the crowd at a rally organised by her party at the time. Even before she could recover from the spectacle, the party shortchanged her in favour of her male opponent during a nomination, the PLP leader revealed.

Recounting her political experience, Karua told the audience, which included women leaders, youth groups, CSOs, local administrators, and electoral stakeholders that she was then a member of Ford Asili.

The party had massive popularity. Former Cabinet Minister Kenneth Matiba had just returned to Kenya from London and had been fronted to contest the presidency against President Daniel Moi of the Kenya African National Union (Kanu), the PLP leader said.

“I was once in a party in 1992. It was the party of the moment because Matiba had just come back from London. In that party, I had to fight literally to grab the mic, tiny as I was at that time,” Karua told the conference.

“Party elections were eventually rigged in favour of my opponent. I said, ‘Wait a minute, what am I doing here? I will wait, and nominations will be similar’.”

She said no further convincing was needed; she was unwanted in the party, so she made a timely decision that later revived her political career.

In September 1992, she decamped to the Democratic Party (DP), where she was given a fair chance to square it out with her male opponent. She clinched the Gichugu parliamentary ticket and eventually the seat.

“I was able to defeat my opponent, in whose favour I was rigged out,” she narrated.

“Had I remained like a sheep being led to a slaughterhouse, perhaps my journey would be different.”

The victory marked her dramatic entry into elective politics as the first female lawyer elected to Parliament. She said it was no easy feat, having floored the incumbent Kareki Kariithi and veteran politician Nahashon Njuno. She held the seat until 2013.

Karua, an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, has served in different capacities, including as Minister for Justice. She contested the presidency and finished sixth in 2013. Her message was loud and clear: a woman’s political party of choice can make or break her political career even before it begins.

“You have got to look at what parties you are in and how they behave. A party shows signs early that it will be undemocratic. How many times do you get the microphone to talk when they are on the road? Is it only the guys that get the microphone?” she asked.

“You already have the information that they have no space for you, but you are refusing to see it. You fall along like sheep being led to a slaughterhouse.”

She noted that had she not taken decisive action, her political journey would most likely have taken a different trajectory. She urged women aspirants not to bury their heads in the sand but to take their parties to task.

“If the barriers are so high, not everybody returns to the playing field again. I do not know what I would have been, but I defied, went to another party, and was given a fair chance,” she said. “If you are seeing the signs, smell the coffee, wake up, do something about it.”

Aspiring female politicians need not necessarily be defiant, according to Karua, who suggested dialogue with party leadership as another approach.

“If your party is a listening party, get together as women, even if you are competitors, and tell the leadership that they recognise and give you a fair platform [or you quit].”

Karua emphasised that most supporters and campaigners are women, hence the need to leverage their numbers instead of being showcased as mere party decorations.

“We are not utilising our numbers. We are not leveraging our crowds. Why should we be ornaments just for a party to show? We have women in a party, yet, in real sense, you are not getting a chance?”

The former presidential aspirant observed that when women ask for fairness in nominations, they are often castigated for wanting an easy ride, arguing that it is men who have it easy by using the “male card”.

“For women to be elected, they have to do wonders,” she said.

“In parties that are dominant in certain areas, 90–95 per cent of the candidates are men. Nominations are like an election won. What if they gave 50/50? Fifty per cent of the elected people would be women.”

She explained that male politicians silently use the male card and are seldom asked if they are sure about contesting elective positions, yet women are bombarded with the same question even by fellow women.

Karua recounted the days when she first declared her intention to vie for MP. Despite already being “a vocal and household name, because I was an activist and leader within the Law Society of Kenya (LSK),” she was still asked about her political ambitions. Her male LSK counterparts, including Senior Counsel Paul Muite, were never asked, she said.

“Even some of my own colleagues within the corridors of justice, people who had believed in me, questioned me. ‘Since when did you become a politician?’ I asked the guy who asked me, ‘Since when did so and so ...?’ Nobody asked them, but Karua was to be asked. So, I realised it is an unconscious bias in almost everybody’s mind, including women, because women are raised in patriarchy,” she said.

Popularly known as the ‘Iron Lady’ owing to her penchant for defiant and tough stances, Karua attributed her resilience to her upbringing.

“I was raised in rural Kirinyaga doing ordinary things. You do not need an extraordinary background to become an extraordinary leader,” she said.

“My first mentors were my father, mother and paternal grandmother. My grandmother told me spaces are not given; they are grabbed. Do not wait to be installed like a chief. They taught me entitlement. You step up, wake up to serve and, as you serve, leave your portion. You are enough just as you are.”

Debunking “the myth that women are their worst enemies”, she urged female leaders and aspiring politicians to exploit the power of networking with fellow women, observing that, from time immemorial, women have never walked alone.

She urged aspiring politicians to “ignore the naysayers. You must believe in yourself as a full human being. You may not meet much encouragement. Fifty per cent of the job is done when you stand and say, ‘I want to be the next ...’ If you do not believe in yourself, even if you are given all the support, you will not make it.”

Reporting originally appeared via Nation Africa. Read the full source for additional context.