07 February 2018•Update: 07 February 2018
By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami
NAIROBI, Kenya
Kenya late Wednesday revoked the citizenship of Miguna Miguna a former Presidential candidate and lawyer who was born and raised in the East African nation.
Miguna was deported to Canada where he is also a citizen after the Kenyan government came under fire for ignoring numerous court orders directing them to produce the opposition leader detained five days ago.
He was arrested last Friday for taking part in last week’s unofficial mock swearing-in of opposition leader Raila Odinga as president and had not been seen since. Opposition supporters took to the streets to demand his release, resulting in two deaths during running battles with the police.
Miguna’s lead counsel said in a statement that, "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.”
His deportation comes hours after riots demanding his release rocked his hometown Kisumu where one woman was killed during running battles with police and vehicles were burnt. This also comes hours after a Kenyan court Tuesday freed Miguna on cash bail and demanded that authorities should release him but to no avail.
The Kenyan court ruled that Kenya’s Inspector General of police and the Director of Criminal Investigations had disobeyed court orders by holding the self-proclaimed General of the National Resistance Movement(NRM), which was formed by Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga from his National Super Alliance (NASA) political movement to pressure President Uhuru Kenyatta to step aside and call for snap elections.
The government on Tuesday labeled Kenya’s opposition National Resistance Movement (NRM) an organized criminal group, hours after Odinga’s mock inauguration.
According to the Kenyan constitution, "a citizen by birth does not lose citizenship by acquiring the citizenship of another country”.
The Kenyan government through an official presidential twitter handle confirmed the deportation saying that "Miguna is headed home. The court ordered he gets released and @InteriorKE(Ministry of Interior) obeyed the orders and even assisted him with a flight ticket home. Please note he renewed his Canadian Passport on 16th June 2017.”
At least 14 other opposition politicians on Tuesday had their passports suspended, Opposition leader Odinga rejected President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in last October’s elections and has vowed to pressure Kenyatta’s government until he steps aside, clearing the way for what he calls “free, fair and credible elections”.
