Martha Karua touches down at JKIA after deportation from Tanzania
People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua on the evening of Sunday, May 18, 2025, landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport [JKIA] following her deportation from Tanzania, where she had been accompanied by two other Kenyan lawyers.
Karua touched down at approximately 4:30 pm, and in video footage circulated by Rigathi Gachagua’s DCP party on X, she could be seen greeting an enthusiastic crowd with a joyful wave, as curious onlookers and fellow travellers responded with visible delight.
She was warmly received by a delegation of lawyers from Amnesty International Kenya alongside a group of other legal practitioners who stirred a brief commotion at the airport as they danced and chanted spiritedly, declaring with bold conviction that they would never yield to tyranny.
The lawyers enthusiastically showcased their dance moves, with some holding placards that fiercely criticised the deportation of the seasoned Kenyan legal mind, whose ordeal began when her passport was confiscated before she was finally informed that she was being sent back to Kenya.
In a post published on her X account just hours after her return, Karua affirmed that she would not be silenced or intimidated by such actions and labelled the deportation an act of oppression which she firmly vowed never to succumb to.
“We shall never yield to tyranny,” she wrote.
Arrival in Tanzania
Earlier, on the morning of Sunday, May 18, 2025, Karua had expressed concerns about being detained at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam just hours after her arrival in the Swahili-speaking nation.
Taking to her official X account, Karua stated that she had arrived at the airport at 9:00 am, only to encounter frustrations that have kept her waiting.
She narrated that the Tanzanian immigration referred her passport to a certain supervisor who kept her waiting for an hour on the grounds that she was consulting her seniors.
She expressed concerns that as an East African Community citizen, her access to the region’s countries appeared to have been inexplicably restricted.
“I arrived at Dar es Salaam Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Airport at nine am , and immigration referred my passport to the supervisor, who has kept me waiting for an hour as she consults her superiors. I am concerned that as a citizen of @jumuiya, my access within @jumuiya country appears inexplicably restricted,” Karua stated.
She went ahead to state that apart from her, lawyer and human rights activist Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi had also been detained at the airport.
She added that they were all guests of the East Africa Law Society (EALS).
“Apart from me, @gloria_kimani and @ngugi_lynn are also detained. The common thread that binds us is that we are all guests of @ealawsociety,” Karua stated.
Entry denied
After long hours of waiting, Karua and her counterparts were denied entry into Tanzania.
The former Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential running mate in the 2022 general elections took to social media to state that the supervisor who was holding her passport had returned and informed them that their entry had been denied.
She says there were no reasons that were given to the EALS.
“The supervisor has now informed us that our entry to Tanzania has been denied; no reasons given to EALA’s @LawSocietyofKe,” she wrote on X.
“I have been denied entry into Tanzania, and I and two colleagues are awaiting deportation at Mwalimu Nyerere International, Dar es Salaam.”
She claimed that the move by Tanzania to deny her entry is due to the fear that they might be interested in the case against Tundu Lissu.
Karua-Tanzania govt spat
In April 2025, Karua fired back at Tanzanian Vice Chairman of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Stephen Wasira, for failing to address the ongoing violation of the constitution in Tanzania.
In a statement on April 26, 2025, Karua called out Wasira, stating that what was most disappointing in his remarks was his silence on the violent crackdown against opposition leaders and Tanzanian citizens.
“Thank you for the response, but what is disappointing is that Mr Wasira did not mention anything about the violation of the constitution and the police in Kisutu court, who are preventing and violently attacking citizens and leaders, killing, breaking bones, and injuring people,” she said.
Responding to her remarks in Dodoma on April 25, 2025, Wasira said Tanzania does not destabilise the peace of East Africa and handles its affairs peacefully.
Karua had criticised the Tanzanian government and CCM for detaining Tundu Lissu, leader of the opposition party CHADEMA, stating that the government’s actions aimed to weaken the opposition.
