Karua reveals why she refused to take back phones confiscated during Uganda detention
By Mabonga Makhanu, July 4, 2026People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua has revealed that she declined to take back her phones after they were forcefully snatched from her at Entebbe International Airport, adding that she still has not recovered them.
Speaking during an interview on Herman Manyora’s podcast aired on Friday, July 3, 2026, Karua said that after the phones were taken from her and later returned while she was en route back to Kenya following her deportation, she refused to accept them.
She explained that she feared the devices might have been compromised after being confiscated and that using them could endanger her safety. For that reason, she chose to leave the phones in the hands of the Ugandan military officers who had detained her at Uganda’s national airport.
“I refused to take them until now, I don’t have them. I suspect they might have been confiscated to endanger my health.”
Karua’s deportation
Karua said in a statement posted on her X account on Monday, June 22, 2026, that she had been held at the airport and remained out of contact after Ugandan authorities stopped her from entering.
She wrote in an “urgent statement” that she had travelled to Uganda aboard a Kenya Airways flight together with the president of the Law Society of Kenya, Charles Kanjama, to attend a bail ruling in the case involving Elias Lukwago.
According to her statement, immigration officials allowed Kanjama to proceed but detained her on arrival.
“Senior Counsel Karua has been detained at Entebbe International Airport after Ugandan authorities denied her entry into the country this morning,” the statement reads in part.
Karua isKarua’s incommunicado
It adds that she remained incommunicado, with her phone switched off and her legal team unable to reach her for updates on her status or expected return to Nairobi.
Karua is currently serving as lead counsel in the treason case involving Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye and co-accused Obeid Lutale. Her team says she holds a valid practising certificate in Uganda through Lukwago’s law firm.