KAIKAI’S KICKER: Martha Karua ban - Why Kenya needs a spine

On my kicker tonight, Martha Karua, an eminent Kenyan lawyer and a respected senior political leader has for the second time been thrown out a neighbouring country for reasons best known by the host neighboring countries.

A year ago, precisely on the 18th of May last year, Martha Karua was stopped at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, interrogated for several hours and forced onto a flight back to Nairobi on the same day. Karua had traveled to Tanzania to observe the treason trial of detained opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Karua was deemed a security threat by Tanzanian authorities and promptly thrown out.

Exactly a year later, it was Uganda’s turn to deport Martha Karua. On Monday this week, Karua was denied entry into Uganda and forced to return to Nairobi after interrogation and confiscation of her mobile phone. In a reply posted on the Citizen TV X-handle, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces Muhoozi Kainerugaba claimed responsibility for the decision to declare Martha Karua persona non grata. Karua was in Uganda to participate in yet another case against a Ugandan opposition figure, former Mayor of Kampala Erias Lukwago.

Karua is no stranger to Ugandan courts nor new in the space of high profile political cases. She is in fact a lead defence counsel in the trial of former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye who was abducted in Nairobi by Ugandan security agents operating apparently with the concurrence of Kenyan authorities.

Now, we know, host nations enjoy the right of admission, but have we taken a pause to reflect on the aggregate corrosive effect of such random treatment of Kenyan citizens including senior nationals such as Karua, a former Cabinet Minister? Could it be more of a statement about Kenya and less about Karua? Could it be a hint of what neighbours think of us?

If just for further reflection, I am reminded of the story of Anthony Chinedu, a Nigerian citizen who was in June 2013 deported by the Kenyan government. Chinedu, a flamboyant Nigerian businessman living in Kenya, was arrested in Nairobi in an operation targeting suspected drug dealers. Kenyan authorities linked Chinedu to the narcotics trade and declared him a prohibited immigrant. Subsequently, the Kenyan authorities bundled Chinedu into a chartered aircraft alongside several other immigrants and deported him to Nigeria.

Upon landing in Lagos, Nigerian authorities took great exception with what they considered ‘procedural lapses’ in the deportation of Chinedu. What followed was a diplomatic nightmare for Kenya. The entire Kenyan deportation party comprising 7 government officials that included immigration, police and foreign affairs representatives were detained in Lagos alongside the crew of the chartered Kenyan aircraft.

For more than two weeks, the officials were held in circumstances sections of the media described as ‘a hostage situation.’ The situation escalated into a full-blown diplomatic spat between Kenya and Nigeria – never mind the seriousness of the reasons given by Kenya for Chinedu’s deportation. For Nigeria, it was the integrity of Chinedu’s passport that came first and the country of his birth instinctively threw a cordon of protection on the then suspected drug dealer.

At this point, I just can’t help imagining what would have followed if Martha Karua was a Nigerian. Small and big lessons from Chinedu and Nigeria… Yes, lessons either way. In the interaction of nations and nationalities… that complex world of diplomacy and international relations and related stuff, two body parts are indispensable for any country – the first one, is a good spine. And the second one… you go figure that one out.