Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Muhoozi Kainerugaba now says he was responsible for the deportation of Kenya’s Senior Counsel and Peoples Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua from the country on Monday.
Muhoozi, who is also President Yoweri Museveni’s son, said the country’s Head of State is not to blame, noting that he personally made the decision to block Karua’s entry into Uganda.
He added that the Kenyan opposition party leader would henceforth not be granted entry into Uganda.
“Do not blame my great father for this decision. I deported her myself. She’s no longer allowed in our country,” the Ugandan CDF wrote on X.
It was supposed to have been a day long trip to neighbouring Uganda for Karua, but that trip was cut short in dramatic fashion when she arrived at the Entebbe International Airport.
Karua had travelled as part of a delegation attending bail hearing for arrested advocate Erias Lukwago, with whom she represents detained opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye.
On disembarking from the plane, she was stopped by the immigration team and told her journey had come to an end.
“I asked them why they were snatching my phone because they were snatching them rudely, I was told I wasn’t being allowed entry due to security reasons,” she said.
But her problems didn’t end there, the denial of entry wasn’t just restricted to Monday’s travel.
She later learnt, while airborne back to Nairobi, that she had been banned from travelling to Uganda forever.
“I had been told there was a possibility of a red alert on my name for travel to Uganda,” she added.
Her deportation has raised hue and cry from human rights and democracy activists who now question the East African countries’ commitment to the community’s ideals.
“What I have realized now is that East Africa has shrunk…this is my second deportation. I was barred entry into Tanzania for daring to go and witness the trial of Tundu Lissu, yet their constitution says criminal trial is a public thing which anybody can go to,” Karua noted.
Ramadhan Abubakar, President of the East Africa Law Society, said: “There is a trend emerging in the region, this is not the first time a Kenyan lawyer is being denied entry, last year Martha, CS Mutunga were denied entry (into Tanzania) for Tundu Lissu.”
Karua says her persona non grata status, combined with the arrest of Erias Lukwago, their client Dr Kizza Besigye’s trial is bound to suffer.
“When they deny entry for Besigye’s lead lawyer and incarcerate his other counsel, that is a denial of Besigye’s right to a fair trial, and as I wondered last week under those circumstances, Besigye cannot get a fair trial in the courts of Uganda,” she said.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and Uganda Law Society have condemned the act, while the East African Law Society says it will be moving to court to challenge the decision and demand explanation as to why Karua was deported and banned from Uganda.
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