Martha Karua
Martha Karua was born on the 22nd of September 1957 in Kirinyaga District, Central Province of Kenya, the second born in a family of eight siblings, four girls and four boys.
Karua attended Kabare Girls Boarding school before joining Kiburia girls’ secondary school and shifted to Karoti girls where she sat for her East African School Certificate in the early 70s.
She proceeded to Nairobi Girls’ which is state house high now, where after passing her EASCE embarked on her A levels, after completion, joined the University of Nairobi where she enrolled for a law degree from 1977 to 1980.
Odinga’s running mate enrolled at the Kenya School of Law between 1980 and 1981for the statutory postgraduate law course.
During her career, she worked in the Judiciary as a District Magistrate rising to a Senior Resident Magistrate at the time of exit in 1987, here, she was in charge of Makadara Law Courts from 1984 to 1985 and KiberaLaw Courts from 1986 to 1987 when she left to start her law firm.
Karua’s political journey started when she joined the opposition political movements that fought for the reintroduction of multi-party democracy in Kenya in the early 1990s, Kenya was under the Kenya African National Union (KANU) led by President Daniel Arap Moi during that time.
Karua won the 1992 general election to become the MP for the Gichugu constituency and the first woman lawyer to be popularly elected to Parliament on the Democratic Party of Kenya (DP) ticket.
She also served as the Minister of Justice, National Cohesion & Constitutional Affairs, and as the Minister of Water Resources Management & Development, hence behind the implementation of the Water Act 2002, which has accelerated the pace of water reforms and service provision in Kenya.
Rigathi Gachagua
Gachagua was born in 1965 in Hiriga village of Mathira Constituency Nyeri county being the eighth born child to Nashashon Gachagua Reriani and Martha Kirigo.
He is currently serving as a member of parliament representing the Mathira constituency, brother to the late Nderitu Gachagua who had held Nyeri’s gubernatorial seat, and his parents being Mau Mau fighters is an indication of a family made of political leaders.
The 57 years old attended Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where he pursued a course in Information Technology, which he did not practice but indulged in politics.
He worked closely with his late brother which motivated him to run for the gubernatorial but unfortunately lost hence, went for the parliamentary seat.
Ruto’s running mate has also worked as a District Officer in Kakamega, Ng’arua, and Laikipia districts.
Justina Wamae
Justina Wamae is a Kenyan businesswoman, advocate, newspaper contributor, and politician.
Wamae is 35 years old the youngest aspirant in the running mates, Rigathi is 57, Ruth Mutua is 40, and Karua is 64 years.
The businesswoman was born and raised in Kibera slums as a firstborn in a family of two.
Her family later relocated to Syokimau after the 2007/8 post elections violence.
She attended Kilimani primary school where she attained good grades that qualified her to join Limuru girls high school.
Wamae joined Daystar University where she pursued Management Information System.
Also, she has a master’s degree in Procurement and Logistics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
Wamae entered politics in 2017, when she was a contestant for the Mavoko parliamentary seat, as an independent candidate. However, she was unsuccessful, and only gained 1,200 votes.
In 2018, Wamae tried pursuing a career as a permanent secretary in one of the cabinet departments but it was also unsuccessful.
Ruth Mutua
Ruth Mutua is 40 years old and before she was nominated as Mwaure’s running mate, she worked as a communications expert at Telkom.
She has also worked as a customer care representative across different companies.
Ms. Mutua attended State House Primary School and joined Visa Oshwal Girls High School.
She later enrolled at the Kenya Institute of Business Training for a Diploma in Logistics, Materials, and Supply chain management (2004-2005).
Mwaure’s running mate is a university of Nairobi graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Sociology.