Karua recounts time she went to court four days after delivering her baby, marriage 'turbulence'

 Karua, while saying that motherhood remains one of her most joyous moments in life, recounted how during her early years practicing law, she had to make a court appearance to earn fees from her client, just four days after delivering her second-born son.

 “I just had to go back to my station in Kibera. I called the clerk, and I told him to alert the magistrate and indicate to him that I've left a 4-day-old baby in the house and I just want him to take the plea in that case so that I'm able to return home… I wanted to appear for my client because you can't earn if you've not appeared… Within 5 minutes, I was out of the courtroom and back to my baby and rest,” she said during an interview with Cleaning The Airwaves, a platform hosted on YouTube.

 Karua, however, said she has never found difficulties juggling the responsibilities that come with motherhood and running her private practice.

 “It was not difficult because I didn't see the difficulty. I was equal to the task,” she said.

 Karua also spoke about the realities many mothers face being the primary caregivers for their children.

 “Mothers are always single even in the context of the household because the bulk of the work falls on them. They'll have companionship but the work of bringing up the children (is on them),” she said.

 Karua continued, “Very few fathers are active and engaged in fatherhood. It's only these days that I'm seeing young men even changing diapers or carrying their babies. It's something that is now in vogue.”

 Karua also spoke about her journey into marriage and the “turbulence” that came shortly after.

 “ When I came back to Nairobi, I met this army major doctor, we started a relationship, and we got married, in the sense of staying together - come, we stay, or in Kikuyu – elopement – because you have not gone home. You're staying together then you go home to report,” she said. 

 Karua said she thereafter swore an affidavit to change her status and transitioned from Martha Karua to Martha Njoka.

 However, she said the union encountered turbulence in the second year.

 “In November 1985, my daughter comes, then the marriage has its own turbulence within the second year… there’s turbulence, I get my son. And, before I got my son, my contract was ending in July 1987. I think, I can't contribute effectively to my family with this income, so I leave, and I start a practice,” she said.

 During the interview, Karua also talked about what it was like to experience the 1982 coup, and her work in activism, among other topics.