KARUA RESIGNS FROM CABINET

THE STANDARD
NAIROBI, KENYA
April 6, 2009
By The Standard Team

Constitutional affairs Minister Martha Karua has resigned from the Cabinet.

She becomes the first Cabinet minister to quit the grand coalition government.

Her resignation, which occurred while President Kibaki is on a foreign trip, could further rock the coalition government that is smarting from last weekend collapsed talks between the two principal partners.

Tendering her resignation on Monday afternoon, Karua hinted to the media that she chose to quit after realising that she could not execute her duties owing to frustrations from other quarters.

The handling of reforms and the manner of appointment of judges by President Kibaki could have compelled the Gichugu MP to call quits.

Karua came into the political limelight in 1992 multiparty elections, when she was elected MP for Gichugu on a Democratic Party ticket.

The minister believes that her docket has been countermanded by the Office of the President, as she was shunted aside before new judges were picked and sworn-in at a ceremony at State House, Nairobi while she was on a foreign trip.

"What does one expect when one’s mandate is recalled? I will take the next step as I cannot be just a spokesperson of Justice," she told The Standard on Sunday nigh.

During the disputed 2007 presidential elections, Karua came out as a strong defender of President Kibaki’s re-election. And even as violence rocked the country on the evening of December 30, following Kibaki’s swearing in ceremony at State House lawn, Karua dared the disgruntled ODM party chiefs to go to court.