Kenya’s deported political firebrand sues for re-entry

Lawyer Miguna Miguna

What you need to know:

Mr Miguna filed his suit through lawyer Nelson Havi, who swore an affidavit on his behalf

Nairobi. Lawyer Miguna Miguna has filed a suit seeking reinstatement of his Kenyan passport and citizenship.

He is also seeking an order to allow him back into the country, as well as access to immigration and customs clearance.

Mr Miguna filed his suit through lawyer Nelson Havi, who swore an affidavit on his behalf.

Self-proclaimed National Resistance Movement (NRM) “general” Miguna Miguna was last Tuesday night ‘deported’ from Kenya to Canada.

Mr Miguna was put into a KLM flight departing Nairobi for Amsterdam minutes to 10pm, his lawyer John Khaminwa said.

“We are reliably informed that Miguna Miguna has been forced into a KLM flight for “deportation” to Canada. Now, how do you deport a Kenyan? This Country has been overrun by criminals,” another lawyer Nelson Havi wrote on Twitter.

NEXUS, a Twitter page that has in the past been used by government officials to issue communication said, ‘‘Miguna is headed home.

The court ordered he gets released and the interior ministry obeyed the orders and even assisted him with a flight ticket home’‘.

Interior ministry claims Mr Miguna renounced his Kenyan citizenship years back. Spokesman Mwenda Njoka said the lawyer never bothered to reclaim it.

“Mr Miguna denounced his Kenyan citizenship years back, acquired Canadian citizenship and never bothered to reclaim Kenyan citizenship in the legally prescribed manner neither did he disclose that he had another country’s citizenship despite being a lawyer who should have known better,” Mr Mwenda said on Twitter.

The account added that Dr Miguna ‘‘renewed his Canadian passport on 16th June 2017’‘.

It is not clear what law the government used to eject him from Kenya as the Constitution guarantees him citizenship since he is Kenyan by birth.

A senior govt official said that the Interior Ministry will give a detailed statement in the morning.

He said when Dr Miguna was arrested, the Canadian government had written to Kenya expressing concerns that their citizen was being harassed and they wanted him back. (NMG)