Kenya: Controversy over deportation of Raila’s lawyer

I am still a bonafide Kenyan – Miguna

By John Eche

The deportation of Mr. Miguna Miguna, the lawyer who took responsibility for initialing the oath affirming Raila Odinga as Peoples President in Kenya, alongside the already existing president, Uhuru Kenyatta several days ago, has stirred a controversy in the country and beyond.

Miguna, leader of the National Resistance Movement, holds dual citizenship of Kenya and Canada.

In organising his forcible deportation to Canada however, government sources say that he had voluntarily renounced his Kenyan nationality years ago, a claim that Miguna has however repudiated.

To effect the deportation, his home was broken into, from where he was forcibly taken away.

Pressure is now mounting on the Kenyatta government to explain upon which law it has now acted.

This is more so because Article 17 of the constitution of Kenya spells out that ‘a person born in Kenya can only have their citizenship revoked if it was acquired by fraud, if they or their parents were already a citizen of another country, or if the person was older than eight when they were found in Kenya.’

Raila Odinga, Kenya’s opposition leader and self-styled ‘people’s president’