Karua: I’m self-made and can seek any seat

The entry of Martha Karua into Kirinyaga County politics has no doubt sent her opponents back to the drawing board.

Ms Karua will be running on a Narc Kenya ticket whereas all other aspirants will have to battle it out at the Jubilee Party nominations.

Those seeking the Jubilee ticket include incumbent Joseph Ndathi, former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru and Kirinyaga Central MP Gachoki Gitari. Ms Karua, Mr Ndathi and Ms Waiguru all come from Gichugu constituency.

Having been an MP from 1992 to 2013, Ms Karua is well-known in Kirinyaga and nationally. It’s in Kerugoya town, in 1998, that she walked out of a rally attended by then President Daniel arap Moi brandishing the high-fist salute of her Democratic Party.

This catapulted her to mythical status during the oppressive Kanu regime. In an exclusive interview with Nation, Ms Karua was her usual combative, no-holds-barred self. She shot straight from the hip.

Q: Why are you running for governor?
A: Why not just tell me why I should not run. Because I am qualified for all the six seats; why should you ask me why? Why not? I can ran for any seat I am qualified for. It’s a move I thought was befitting for this time. I ran for president previously, I will still ran for president again. This time I want to serve the people of Kirinyaga.

Q: Will you be running on Narc Kenya?

A: Yes.

Q: So you will not participate in Jubilee nominations?

A: How can you ask me that when I have just told you that I am running on Narc Kenya? That’s it. And it is not about other parties. Narc Kenya is fully registered and capable of fielding candidates.

She says she is not bothered about who the Jubilee candidate will be. The role of the opposition in Kenya, she notes, is established in the Constitution and even before 2010, all opposition parties worked together but would break out towards elections.

“Opposition can never be a praise choir for the government. The tradition since the return of multi-party politics is that the opposition works together. In 1992, you found Mr Kenneth Matiba, Mr Oginga Odinga and Mr Mwai Kibaki holding a press conference to say Mr Moi had rigged the poll.

From there on, we worked in Parliament together. “In 1997, we did the same; by then Mzee Odinga was gone. It was Raila (Odinga) with his NDP, (Kijana) Wamalwa with his Ford Kenya and Mr Kibaki with his Democratic Party. Also, Ms Charity Ngilu emerged with SDP. We ran against each other.

“After the defeat, we worked together until the time Raila went to Kanu and formed a coalition. A very short-lived one which he came out of to unite with the opposition to defeat Kanu.

“In 2003, when Uhuru was leader of opposition, they first started alone but when the referendum came, they joined hands with government “rebels” led by Raila. They worked together, formed the Orange Movement, and won the referendum. They gave us (those in government then) a headache.

Come 2007, the parties went their separate ways.” She adds that since Narc Kenya will not be fielding a presidential candidate, it’s up to the party’s branches to announce who they will support for president, as they deem fit.

Q: What about you as an individual, who will you vote for president?

A: You are not going to ask me who I’ll vote for as an individual. Can I also ask you who you will vote for. Can you tell me? Just because you are a journalist, you have no right to violate the secrecy of the ballot.”

Observers say if she wins the governor seat in 2017, she may be in pole position to inherit the Mt Kenya vote from President Kenyatta and the support of Central Kenya businessmen; a preposition she dismissed.

“I do not participate in boardroom discussions. Even when I supported Mr Kibaki, I supported him as a candidate of my choice not because of a boardroom decision. My standing has nothing to do with anyone in Mt Kenya or any other place. I am focusing on the 2017 election. I am not willing to discuss any other election,” she said.

Q: In 2013, some people said you were a spoiler for Uhuru as he faced ICC cases. What do you think of this?

A: You can go to Parliament and see the history. You will see people who asked for what they eventually got.

She dismissed the notion that having worked with Mr Odinga will be a liability to her.

Q: Don’t you think your past association with Cord will haunt you in Kirinyaga?

A; Did it haunt Uhuru? Be completely fair, did association with Raila haunt Uhuru, in 2007 when he choose to join PNU? Do that parallel comparison because anything less than that will be malicious. And by Raila saying Kibaki Tosha, did it haunt Kibaki? Don’t spew narratives that show like it’s wrong to associate with any Kenyan. Let us do mature politics.

It is therefore likely that come the elections the governor will still be form that part of the county if Mr Gitari doesn’t win the nominations and floors Ms Karua.

So if you are not telling me now whom you are voting for, don’t ask me. But I am not seeking a presidential vote and the party is not fielding a candidate.”

Basically, there is nothing wrong with opposition parties working together,” she says.