People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua has warned members of the public against politicians who fund violent activities, asking them to choose peace.

In a post on her official X account on Saturday, March 14, 2026, Karua explained that no single politician puts their child on the frontline of violence.

While sending a warning to members of the public, Karua, who is a 2027 presidential candidate, expressed the need to be aware that life is more than what any politician will pay for.

“The politician who funds violence will never put their child on that frontline. They will put yours. Your life is worth more than what any politician will pay for it. Reject violence. Choose peace,” Karua stated in a statement.

Karua calls for leadership equality

Karua’s remarks come days after she came out sharply criticising major political parties for sidelining women in leadership positions, accusing them of deliberately denying women opportunities to contest winnable seats.

Speaking on the night of Sunday, March 8, 2026, during an interview with a local TV station, Karua said many parties often pressure women to step aside in favour of male candidates during nominations.

“I have seen major parties telling women to step aside and let their brothers, the men, take positions,” Karua said.

According to her, even when women are nominated to run for office, they are often placed in constituencies or counties where their parties have little influence, significantly reducing their chances of winning.

Karua argued that political parties could easily help Kenya achieve the constitutional gender balance requirement if they deliberately supported women candidates in competitive races.

Kenya’s Constitution encourages the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule, which aims to ensure that no more than two-thirds of elective or appointive public bodies are dominated by one gender.

However, the country has struggled for years to fully implement the rule, particularly in elective positions.

2022 elections

Karua pointed to the results of the 2022 elections to illustrate how political parties could have improved women’s representation.

She noted that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) had significant political influence that could have been used to promote women candidates.

“Even the few nominations that happen for women are often just a matter of luck. If women were nominated in winnable seats, i.e., where the party has influence, for instance, if ODM could have given 50 per cent of its gubernatorial seats to women, since Azimio had 24 governors, we could have had 12 governors,” she said.

She added that if the ruling UDA party had taken a similar approach, the country would have made major progress toward gender equality in leadership.

“UDA had about 18 governors; if they could have given half to women, that would have been nine governors. We would be way past the one-third gender rule,” she said.