Ugandan academic and activist Dr. Stella Nyanzi says she was stopped from flying back to Germany, where she lives as a refugee with her children. Dr. Nyanzi and her children moved to Germany to escape political persecution in Uganda under President Yoweri Museveni’s government.
According to Nyanzi, a German migration officer named Constantine, based at the German Embassy in Nairobi, stopped her from boarding her flight. The incident happened at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Nyanzi was supposed to fly with Etihad Airways.
The officer claimed that she did not qualify as a refugee and said she had no valid documents to prove her refugee status. But Nyanzi showed a letter from the German immigration office, dated March 5, 2025. The letter clearly confirmed that she had been granted refugee status in Germany under the country’s asylum laws.
“I was shocked,” Nyanzi wrote. “I live in Germany as a refugee. But this official, Constantine, stopped me from flying back. He told me I am not a refugee, even after I showed him the official document proving I am.”
Because of this, Nyanzi missed her flight. Her three children are still in Germany, waiting for her to return home to Munich. She said she had already checked out of her place in Nairobi and had to return from the airport after being blocked.
Now, Nyanzi says she will stay in Nairobi over the weekend, hoping that the German official will change their mind and allow her to go back to her family in Germany.
