Martha Karua is the daughter of Jackson Karua and his wife Josephine Wanjiru. Karua was born on 22 September 1957 in Kirinyaga District in the Central Province of Kenya.
Brought up in the village of Kimunye in the Kirinyaga, she is the second child in a family of eight, four girls and four boys.
She attended Mugumo primary school, Kabare Girls Boarding School, St Michael’s boarding school Keruguya. She attended Kiburia Girls Secondary School, Ngiriambu Girl’s secondary school, and Karoti Girl’s secondary schools where she passed her East African School Certificate at Karoti Girls High School in Kirinyaga County.
She then attended Nairobi Girl’s secondary school for A levels. She studied law at the University of Nairobi from 1977 to 1980. Between 1980 and 1981 she was enrolled at the Kenya School of Law for the statutory postgraduate law course that is a prerequisite to admission to the Kenyan roll of advocates and licensing to practice law in Kenya.
Karua is also a holder of a Master’s degree from the United States International University (USIU). She graduated in 2011 at a ceremony held in Sandiego, USA.
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After graduating, from 1981 to 1987, Karua worked as a magistrate in various courts including those at Makadara, Nakuru and Kibera, receiving credit for careful discernment.
In 1987, she left to start her own law firm, Martha Karua & Co. Advocates, which she ran until 2002. Cases included the treason trial of Koigi Wamwere and that of the Kenyan member of parliament Mirugi Kariuki.
At the risk of being blacklisted by the Moi government, she defended several human rights activists.
Her work contributed to family law, especially in regard to matrimonial property.
She unsuccessfully vied for presidency in the 2013 General Elections. In the 2017 General Elections, she contested for the gubernatorial seat in Kirinyaga County and lost to Anne Mumbi Waiguru.