On May 18, 2025, Martha Karua touched down at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, hoping to attend the treason trial of Tanzania’s opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Instead, Tanzanian officers marched her back onto a flight back to Nairobi.  

They did the same to Willy Mutunga, Hanifa Adan, and Hussein Khalid a day later. President Samia Suluhu justified the expulsions by warning outsiders not to meddle in Tanzanian affairs.  

She insisted that foreign activists seek to destabilise the region’s most peaceful nation and ordered her security forces to keep unwelcome visitors at bay. 

Every country, including Tanzania, holds the sovereign right to guard its borders. However, East African Community (EAC) treaties forbid one-sided action.  

The 1999 Treaty Establishing the EAC obliges members to allow free movement of people, labour and services.  

Under the 2009 Common Market Protocol, any citizen of an EAC state may enter and stay in another member state for up to six months without a visa or work permit.  

While the rights are not absolute and may be restricted for lawful reasons, arbitrary or politically motivated expulsions, such as ejecting Kenyan visitors attending a public trial, violate the spirit and purpose of the EAC. 

When leaders use sovereignty to hide unfair actions, it creates mistrust. Young Africans have long pinned their hopes on regional integration.  

We imagine a future where we cross borders without paperwork, pursue careers across capitals and unite in solidarity.  

Last weekend’s deportations reminded us that treaties mean little if states pick and choose when to honour their word.  

As the adage goes, when the roots of a tree begin to decay, it will spread death to the branches. 

Regional law offers a remedy. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights lets one state lodge a case against other states over human rights violations.  

That interstate appeal can expose breaches and force states to answer to shared principles.  

The African Peer Review Mechanism goes further by inviting heads of state to submit their governance records to frank scrutiny by their equals. 

Kenyan youth have already taken to the streets at home. Now we must not only focus on making Kenya great, but also turn some energy to the EAC.  

Injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We should log every violation of EAC law, then petition the East African Court of Justice through the East African Law Society. 

We must thrust these incidents into the public eye, using social media to show how free movement sparks shared prosperity and demands state accountability.  

We should press for peer reviews under the African Charter at every EAC summit until our neighbours respect the very spirit of integration they profess. 

Tanzanian leaders say they cherish peace. If true, they will see that shutting out observers only seeds suspicion.  

They must stop treating borders as barriers to truth. Our region can thrive only if we honour our treaties.  

Young people in every EAC country should hold their countries to that promise. There is no place for closed doors in a world that prizes open horizons. 

The writer is a lawyer and a Human Rights defender