Editor's Review

Martha Karua and her colleagues, Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi, were denied entry into Tanzania on Sunday and subsequently deported.

People's Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua has dismissed President Samia Suluhu’s claims that she and six other Kenyans invaded Tanzania to interfere in its internal affairs.

In a statement on Monday, May 19, Karua said they entered Tanzania legally through the proper channel and as members of the East African Community (EAC).

The PLP leader noted that they were denied entry at the airport and deported back to Kenya in violation of the EAC treaty.

“We did not invade Tanzania, Samia Suluhu, we entered legally as members of the East African Community, but we were blocked in violation of the community treaty and deported,” Karua stated.

President Suluhu on Monday issued a stern warning against foreign activists over meddling in Tanzania’s internal affairs.

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File image of Martha Karua

"We have started seeing activists from our region invading and getting involved in our internal issues. If they have been controlled in their country, let them not come to mess ours," she said.

The Tanzanian President accused the foreign activists of attempting to destabilize the country and urged authorities to stop such attempts.

"We should not allow them; they have already destabilized their country. The only country that has not been destabilized, where people are peaceful, is here (Tanzania).

"There have been several attempts, but I want to urge the authorities not to allow people from other countries to come and destabilize this country," President Suluhu added.

On Sunday, May 18, Karua and her colleagues, Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi, were denied entry into Tanzania before being deported to Kenya.

The Tanzanian authorities on Monday again blocked former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, alongside activists Hussein Khalid of Haki Africa and Hanifa Adan, from accessing the country.

The three had traveled to Tanzania as a show of solidarity with local lawyers and human rights defenders in the hearing of opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s case.

They were also deported to Kenya on Monday evening aboard a Kenya Airways flight.