Karua, a lawyer who is a potential candidate for Kenya’s 2027 presidential election, said she was expelled from Tanzania on Sunday ahead of attending opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s treason trial.
Karua, a former justice minister who has been vocal about ‘democratic backsliding’ in East Africa, said her deportation was a sign that the authorities in Tanzania would not hold a fair trial for Chadema party leader Tindu Lissu.
Lissu, who is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, is facing treason charges that could result in the death penalty.
Karua said she and her colleagues – Gloria Kimani, a council member of the Law Society of Kenya, and Lynn Ngugi, a human rights advocate – were stopped on arrival at the Dar es Salaam airport and put on a return flight the same day.
She said they were detained “for no offence, [but] for merely seeking to go and stand for solidarity and to observe the trial of Tundu Lissu”.
Karua’s People’s Liberation Party (PLP) has denounced the deportation saying: “This disgraceful act is not only an affront to their personal dignity and fundamental freedoms but also a blatant violation of the principles of the East African Community [EAC], of which both Kenya and Tanzania are founding members.”
Subverting the law to lock up the main contenders’
Karua, a potential candidate for Kenya’s 2027 presidential election, described Lissu as the main challenger to Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Samia’s party is “subverting the law to lock up the main contenders so that they can sail through unopposed” in the October elections, she said.
According to Karua, her deportation shows that Tanzania’s ruling party is “determined to violate the law and are not keen on according Tundu Lissu a fair trial”.
Lissu’s Chadema party was disqualified from taking part in the October elections after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct. It had demanded electoral reforms, accusing Hassan of returning to the repressive tactics of past rulers.
East Africa in ‘disarray’
In an earlier interview with AFP this month, Karua said Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are experiencing a “complete erosion of democratic principles”.
“All these countries now have become dangerous, not just to others but to their own nationals. I tie this to the forthcoming elections,” she said. “It’s a pattern. They are neutering the opposition ahead of elections.”
Karua launched the PLP in February as she prepares a run for the presidency in 2027. She faces competition from an array of opposition leaders, all hoping to take on President William Ruto.
The popularity of the Kenyan president has waned in recent months due to growing public dissatisfaction with economic policies and failed ventures in regional politics.
Rights groups say at least 60 Kenyans were killed during protests in June and July last year, with more than 80 people abducted by security forces since then, and dozens still missing.
However, Kenyan police have denied involvement in what critics have termed as state-sanctioned abductions of government critics. Ruto also told reporters last week that all those abducted have been reunited with their families.
In the 2022 election, Karua was the running mate of Raila Odinga, who lost to Ruto.
Kenya is in “total disarray”, she told AFP. “It’s as if our constitution has been suspended. We have abductions, arbitrary arrests… extrajudicial killings… And the police and authorities fail to take responsibility,” she said.
Uganda’s Besigye under siege
Karua has been representing Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who was kidnapped in Kenya last year and returned for trial. He, too, faces treason charges.
Last week, Ugandan army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son and heir-apparent of long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni, threatened voters who did not back their party.
People “who do not support Mzee wholeheartedly better be very careful!” Kainerugaba said on X, in reference to his father. “We will deport all the traitors in public view!”
Uganda is scheduled to hold elections in January 2026.
AFP, The African Report.
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