In December 2015 Martha Karua admitted to receiving a Ksh.2,000,000 “donation” to her presidential campaign costs from British American Tobacco (BAT).
Karua said that she thought that the contribution by Paul Hopkins, a BAT employee, was a personal donation.
The money was paid via Mary M’Mukindia who was running Karua’s campaign.
Karua has the reputation of being untainted by corruption save for this report of donation of alleged tainted money.
No culpability was proven and the British investigations concluded without any charges against Paul Hopkins.
Karua maintained that she could not be corrupted and invited Kenyan authorities to investigate any alleged wrong doing.
Karua contested the 2013 Kenyan presidential election, under the NARC Kenya party ticket. She came in sixth with 43,881 votes in a contested election outcome.
In 2020, the East Africa Court of Justice (EACJ) awarded Kenyan politician Martha Karua Ksh2.7 million in damages for infringement of her right to a fair trial.
A three-Judge bench at the EACJ First Instance Division awarded Karua the damages for infringement of her right to a fair trial and fair hearing by the government through the Supreme Court during hearing of her petition against the election of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.
She made history on May 16, 2022, when Raila Odinga picked her as his running mate in the run-up to the August 9, 2022 election, Kenya’s first female to be named to such a post.
Karua, the Narc-Kenya party leader will deputise Odinga under the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition.
Many pundits have termed her as a no-nonsense, and a veteran of Kenya’s pro-democracy movements of the 1990s.
She will be the first female Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya should Odinga, whom President Uhuru Kenyatta has fronted as his suitable successor, become President after the August 9 election.
