Sources confirm that Amos Wako, the former Kenyan attorney general and justice minister, was denied entry to Uganda this morning at the Entebbe International Airport. The move is seen as a dramatic escalation in the simmering tensions between Nairobi and Kampala. Wako, who flew in from Nairobi on a Kenya Airways flight, was held in a secure room for two hours before being escorted back onto a return flight, sources say.
Ugandan immigration officials offered no explanation, but the incident points to deeper fractures in the East African Community's already fragile alliances. Wako was expected to attend a private legal seminar in Kampala, but his history as a vocal critic of Uganda's recent constitutional changes and its handling of the oil sector may have played a role. The Kenyan High Commission in Kampala has confirmed it is seeking an urgent explanation from Ugandan authorities.
This is the latest in a series of diplomatic spats, including the recent seizure of Kenyan cargo trucks at the Malaba border. The ban reeks of an increasingly bold Kampala willing to flex its muscle ahead of the EAC summit next month. Wako himself has yet to comment, but his office told our reporter that he is 'shocked and dismayed.
' The question now is what Nairobi does next. Trade between the two nations is worth billions, and this could trigger a new front in the regional power struggle of East Africa.
