Tanzanian official: Why we deported Martha Karua

Tanzanian Minister for Constitution and Legal Affairs Dr Damas Ndumbaro

Tanzania has come out to explain why lawyers from Kenya who went to represent opposition leader Tundu Lissu in a court case were deported.

The minister for Constitutional Affairs and Justice, Dr. Damas Ndumbaro, said People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua, along with fellow Kenyan lawyer Gloria Kimani and human rights campaigner Lynn Ngugi did not have a license to practice law in Tanzania.

Speaking to journalists on May 20, 2025, in Dodoma, Ndumbaro said the arrival of the lawyers was against Tanzanian laws and that the Government took the step to protect the legal foundations of the country.

“What they were coming to do in this country is a violation of Tanzanian laws, which is unacceptable,” said Ndumbaro at the meeting on the achievements of his ministry during the four years of the Sixth Phase Government.

Karua was deported from Tanzania to prevent her from attending the court case together with Kimani and Ngugi.

Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and other prominent rights activists who later travelled there over Lissu's case said they were stopped and held at the airport.

Lissu, who is the leader of Tanzania's main opposition Chadema party, was appearing in court on Monday after being charged with treason last month.

Karua is a human rights advocate and a vocal critic of what she calls "democratic backsliding" in East Africa.

She has also been representing Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye, who was kidnapped in Kenya last year and taken back to his home country to face treason charges.

Like Lissu, he denies the charges, arguing that they are politically motivated.

Lissu’s charge is connected to his nationwide campaign pushing for electoral reform under the slogan "No Reforms, No Election".

The country is due to go to the polls in October when Lissu is expected to challenge President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Karua served as Justice Minister from 2005 to 2009, and was the running-mate of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 2022 elections.