Raila picks Martha Karua as running mate

Karua was picked from a list of 11 candidates who appeared for vetting before a selection panel that shortlisted three candidates and forwarded the names to Odinga for a final decision.

Candidates who appeared for vetting include Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Martha Karua (Narc-Kenya),Sabina Chege (Jubilee Party), Peter Kenneth (Jubilee Party) Ali Hassan Joho (ODM) and Stephen Tarus (National Liberal Party).

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, deputy ODM leader Wycliffe Oparanya and Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui were also interviewed for the position. KANU Party chairman Gideon Moi who had earlier been shortlisted opted out of the race to endorse Kalonzo.

Karua is a renowned Kenyan political leader, human rights defender and reform champion with a deep commitment to social justice, the rule of law and the building of accountable institutions.

A lawyer by profession, Karua started her law career in 1981 as a Magistrate, before venturing into private practice as a founding partner of one of the most successful women-led law firms of the time- Martha Karua & Co. Advocates.

She was the first woman elected Member of Parliament in Gichugu constituency paving the way for the election of women in Kirinyaga.

For more than six years, Martha served as a Minister in the Government of Kenya in charge of various portfolios.

Between 2005 and 2009, she was Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, under whose watch Kenyan new and most progressive constitutional dispensation was promulgated.