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Martha Karua: My humiliating ordeal in Uganda
People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua addressing journalists at JKIA in Nairobi on June 22, 2026.
On Monday morning, Senior Counsel and PLP Party leader Martha Karua was blocked from entering Uganda, where she serves as lead counsel for veteran opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajj Obeid Lutale in an ongoing high-profile treason case. She was declared persona non grata and put on a Kenya Airways flight back to Nairobi. The text below is a first-person account as told by Karua to journalists at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport upon her return.
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"I am relieved to be back home in Kenya after being denied entry into Uganda on Monday morning under circumstances that I believe were unlawful and politically motivated. I arrived at Entebbe International Airport at about 8:50am aboard a Kenya Airways flight. I was travelling with three other people, among them the President of the Law Society of Kenya (Charles Kanjama).
As Secretary-General of the East Africa Law Society and an advocate licensed to practise in Uganda, I had every reason to believe my entry would be routine.
After completing the required Ebola screening forms, I proceeded through immigration and was initially cleared. I then went to wait for my colleagues at the baggage collection area since I only had hand luggage.
A short while later, an immigration officer approached and informed me that she had been told she made a mistake by clearing me, because there was a note against my name. I was immediately concerned because I had received information last week suggesting there might be a red alert issued against me in Uganda.
That information came after the arrest, detention and alleged torture of my colleague: senior Ugandan lawyer Erias Lukwago. Mr Lukwago is one of the lawyers representing Opposition leader Kizza Besigye alongside me. Following his arrest, we issued statements condemning the action and participated in discussions with the Uganda Law Society. It was after those interventions that I was warned I could face restrictions.
Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajj Obeid Lutale's defence lawyers Erias Lukwago (L) and Martha Karua (R) pictured in the courtroom in Kampala on May 21, 2025. PHOTO/ FILE
I travelled to Uganda not to represent a client in court but simply to check on my colleague because I had been informed that he was expected to appear.
I was escorted to the office of the Principal Immigration Officer. By then, two immigration officers had already forcibly taken my mobile phones without my consent. They did not ask for permission or explain why they were taking them.
The Principal Immigration Officer informed me that I would not be allowed into Uganda because of unspecified security concerns. When I asked what those concerns were, no explanation was given.
The officers wanted to place me in a holding cell, but I requested to remain at the Kenya Airways lounge and wait for a return flight to Nairobi. That request was granted. I was escorted to the transfer passenger section and remained under the watch of immigration officers until I boarded my flight back home.
Throughout the ordeal, I repeatedly asked what offence I had committed. No answer was forthcoming. As a citizen of the East African Community, I believe I am entitled to freedom of movement within the region. That right was denied to me without explanation.
People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua addressing journalists at JKIA in Nairobi on June 22, 2026.
This is not the first time I have experienced such treatment. Last year, I was deported from Tanzania when I travelled to observe the trial of Opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
What concerns me most is the wider implication for the administration of justice in Uganda. I have been lead counsel in Kizza Besigye's case since January 2025 and have entered Uganda many times without incident. Problems only began after the arrest of my co-counsel, Erias Lukwago.
When one lawyer is detained and another prevented from entering the country, it raises serious questions about whether Besigye can receive a fair trial. I do not believe a fair hearing is possible when members of the defence team are systematically targeted.
I am equally troubled by the growing role of the military in matters that should ordinarily be handled by civilian institutions. Public statements have been made regarding the treatment of civilians by military officers, yet those actions appear to attract little accountability. It gives the impression that Uganda is drifting back to a period when military power overshadowed civilian authority.
My being denied entry to Uganda, I believe was unlawful. The snatching of my phones, which I know have been interfered with, which I suspect they have mined data unauthorised. When they tried to return them to me, I refused because I do not know whether they have harmful chemicals on them. This is actionable and I am definitely going to sue. Whether in Uganda or the African Court because the East African Court is no longer moving.
If it's an offence for me to go to East African countries, yet I am holding an East African passport, is there an East African Community? Or is it a club of our leaders? Here in Kenya, the Ruto administration deported Brian Kagoro, a renowned Human rights lawyer and activist. In Tanzania, they deported us and others; in Kenya, we have deported many people across East Africa, including South Sudan nationals and even deported Turkish nationals. In all this saga, Kenya emerges as the capital of abductions and deportations."
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