Kenyan senior lawyer and former Justice minister Martha Karua has detailed what she describes as a tense and confusing ordeal at Entebbe International Airport, where she says she was denied entry into Uganda and labelled a security threat despite initially being cleared by immigration officers.
Karua said the incident involved contradictory instructions from officials, confiscation of her mobile phones, and repeated refusals to explain the legal basis for her detention and eventual deportation.
Speaking after returning to Nairobi on Tuesday, she said she was first processed and cleared by immigration, but later informed at the baggage area that there had been a “mistake” and that a note existed against her name.
“So I was processed by immigration the normal way, and I passed. And at the baggage area, I was waiting for my colleagues to be cleared, then the lady who had cleared me came and told me that she was informed she had made a mistake, that there was a note against my name, and she asked me to see the supervisor,” Karua said.
Karua had travelled to Uganda to attend court proceedings involving Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, who is among the lawyers representing opposition politician Kizza Besigye and his co-accused, Hajj Obeid Lutale.
She said she was moved between several officers before being taken to the office of the principal immigration officer at the airport, where a decision was made to deny her entry.
“They asked him what to do, and he asked them what the note said, and they said the note said they should deny entry, and he told them go put it into effect,” she said.
Karua questioned why she was being blocked despite holding valid travel documents, including an East African passport, and said she was not informed of any specific law she had breached.
“I’m a holder of an East African passport, and I’m there legitimately. Can I be told which section of the laws of Uganda and which particular law I have broken?” she said.
She also described being asked to fill out forms containing details already available in her passport, which she declined.
According to Karua, immigration officers later confiscated her phones during the incident, an action she says was not explained.
“And in the course of that conversation, one of them snatched my phone, one of my phones which I was holding in my hands, very rudely. And I told him he didn’t have to act like a bully. He should have asked for the phone if he wanted it,” she said.
She added that a second phone was also taken when she tried to contact colleagues in Nairobi, saying officers appeared to be monitoring her movements.
Karua said she later confronted officials over the confiscation, expressing concern that information on her devices could have been accessed.
“I told him not with what has transpired, first to tell me why they have confiscated my phones, what they’re doing with them, because I suspected they were mining information from my two phones,” she said.
She said the principal immigration officer eventually cited “security” as the reason for denying her entry.
“I asked for reasons of my denial of entry. He didn’t give any. He just said, ‘Security’. Why are you holding my phones? ‘Security’. That they are a security threat to Uganda,” she said.
Her account comes after condemnation from legal bodies in both countries.
The Uganda Law Society said the matter raised concern over East African Community principles of free movement and professional recognition, noting that Karua held a valid special practising certificate issued by Uganda’s legal authorities.
The Law Society of Kenya also demanded an explanation, saying the incident raised questions about whether lawyers can freely perform professional duties across East Africa.
Karua’s People’s Liberation Party also condemned the treatment, describing it as an assault on the independence of the legal profession and calling for regional accountability.
