Martha Karua and the power of a focused, competent woman

If you are a father of daughters and are looking for a role model for your little girls, I would strongly encourage you to consider Martha Wangari Karua.

This week started on a high note when Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential aspirant Raila Odinga named Ms Karua as his running mate.

If Mr Odinga is elected president on August 9, Ms Karua will make history as Kenya’s first woman Deputy President, making her the highest-ranking woman in Kenyan politics. For the first time in Kenya’s history, a woman will be a “heartbeat away” from the presidency, joining the ranks of US Vice-President Kamala Harris and Uganda Vice-President Jessica Alupo.

Valuable traits

There are many facets to Ms Karua’s rise, but what stands out for me is her determination and fortitude – which are perhaps among her most valuable traits.

Ms Karua is a paragon of resilience and a case study on strength and tenacity. Leadership scholars such as Doris Kearns Goodwin have placed resilience – “the ability to sustain ambition in the face of frustration” – at the heart of leadership. If you consider Ms Karua’s political career, you will realise that it was neither luck nor fate that got her to this point, but her indefatigable, never-say-die spirit that many young women could emulate.

It was not what happened to Ms Karua that mattered, but how she reacted and responded to the challenges and drawbacks she encountered in her journey.

It was not the hurdles placed in her way or the insults she endured that mattered, but how she managed to pull herself up by her bootstraps and steeled herself for the journey ahead.

Remarkable strength

One must appreciate how these difficult turning points in Ms Karua’s journey first encumbered her, but more importantly, how they fortified her and prepared her for this significant moment in her career.

Her announcement on Monday was not an overnight success, it is a result of decades of resilience and remarkable strength that has become her second nature.

Secondly, Karua is a case study on unwavering consistency. In 2017, after she unsuccessfully vied for the Kirinyaga governor’s seat, she refused to exit the political stage even when her detractors said her time was up. She stubbornly stood her ground, in typical Karua fashion, and remained an active voice in politics until in 2022 when, like a phoenix, she rose from the ashes, embarrassing her detractors and proving the naysayers wrong.

In a society obsessed with placing ‘sell by dates’ on women, and not on men, Ms Karua’s consistency proves that women can excel at any age and at any stage in life.

Whether at 24, when she worked as a magistrate, or at 34, when she became MP, or even now at 64, when she is well positioned to become Kenya’s first woman Deputy President, Ms Karua’s is a story of six decades of excellence.

When I see her looking all elegant in her Kitenge outfits and authentic natural hair sister locks, only one thing comes to mind; you never underestimate the power of a determined, competent woman.

The writer is the director, Innovation Centre, at Aga Khan University; [email protected]