Tanzania’s Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Damas Ndumbaro, said that the Kenyan lawyers who intended to attend the treason hearing of Tundu Lissu, the leader of Tanzania’s main opposition party, were deported due to concerns of violating Tanzanian law. According to the minister, the lawyers were not licensed to practice law in the country.
“There are some of our Kenyan colleagues who came and were stopped at the airport. They said they came for Tundu Lissu’s case, to defend Tundu Lissu’s human rights. They say they are lawyers. According to my understanding, they did not have a license to practice law in Tanzania, so what they came to do is a violation of our laws,” Ndumbaro said.
“But they have failed to deal with issues in their own country; their own house is on fire, yet they want to put out the fire at their neighbor’s house. That is hypocrisy, and we Tanzanians do not want hypocrisy,” Ndumbaro emphasized.
The lawyers, activists, and former leaders were planning to attend the proceedings as observers. Those who were deported include the Former Kenyan Chief Justice, Willy Mutunga, the Former Kenyan Justice Minister and the leader of Kenya’s People’s Liberation Party (PLP), Martha Karua. Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Council member Gloria Kimani and member of the Pan-African Progressive Leaders Solidarity Network, Lynn Ngugi.
Others are Lawyer Hussein Khalid and activist Hanifa Adan Farsafi. Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi was arrested by Tanzania authorities together with Ugandan lawyer Agather Atuhaire, while there was some information that they might have been deported on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, family and workmates confirm that this is not the case.
Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on May 20, 2025, Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi, said the incident might have happened because it’s an election period in Tanzania.
“This is an election period in Tanzania, and it’s usually a highly emotive time. Even in Kenya, we have our own moments of very emotive sessions during the election. So definitely, I think what is important is that we want East Africa and we want Kenya and Tanzania to continue having cordial relations,” Mudavadi said.
He continued: “We need to also appreciate that sometimes we take the freedoms we have here for granted. I think it should also be a wake-up call to us in Kenya that how we operate, how we speak, how we express ourselves, does not necessarily please or work in other countries.”
In the interview, Mudavadi says the Kenyan embassy has been in touch with Mwangi and is using diplomatic channels to find a solution to the issue.
