By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ugandan authorities have blocked a top Kenyan lawyer and former Justice Minister Martha Karua from entering the country and ordered her to return home, Uganda Law Society alleges.
Karua on had arrived Entebbe airport to join a team of legal practitioners defending her Ugandan lawyer colleague, Erias Lukwago, with whom they have been representing the detained opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who is facing allegations bordering on treason.
Lukwago, who was himself arrested last week has been charged with a treason-related offence and was due to appear in court on Monday for bail hearing.
Ugandan authorities did not give a reason for blocking Karua, although the President of Kenya Law Society, Charles Kanjama, who had travelled with her, was allowed in.
Kanjama said it was “of particular concern” that Karua was blocked, despite her travelling “for the same matter and in the same professional capacity” as himself.
“It is difficult to understand why one member of a defence team should be admitted while another is turned away,” he said in a post on X, while calling on Ugandan authorities to explain their actions.
A BBC report says Lukwago appeared in court last Wednesday looking weak days after he was abducted from his home, alleged on the instruction of the defence chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba who is also son of President Yoweri Museveni.
Lukwago denied charges of failing to report treason relating to Besigye’s case and was remanded in prison.
Karua faced several hurdles before she was eventually cleared to represent Besigye, who was forcefully abducted from Kenya in 2024. Her initial application to practise as a lawyer in Uganda was rejected.
She was also deported from Tanzania last year to prevent her from attending the court case of opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who also faces treason charges.
