How Miguna rose, fell and rose again

September 2007 was the turning point for Miguna Miguna - the abrasive Canada-based advocate who closed down his law firm to plunge into Kenyan politics.

However, he was defeated in the party primaries when he vied for the Nyando parliamentary seat before a steady rise in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party hierarchy – and soon after, a sharp fall.

Miguna joined ODM’s think tanks before being appointed the legal advisor to then Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

His deportation to Canada on Tuesday night completed his recovery in the eyes of Raila’s support base that had written off the combative lawyer in 2012.

His witnessing of Raila’s controversial ‘swearing-in’ as the ‘people’s president’ last week and his subsequent taunting of Government officials was easily interpreted as the ultimate test of defiance and leadership from the front.

Dawn raid

Security agents broke into his home in a dawn raid and picked him up before holding him in secret locations and ultimately presenting him in court and then deporting him.

Miguna somehow managed to redeem his image, at least in the short-term, but his conviction to stand by the truth while hurting Raila could well return to haunt him.

Miguna’s tell-all book, ‘Peeling Back the Mask’, which he published after a fallout with Raila, earned him the wrath of ODM followers, culminating in a mock burial of his effigy at his rural home.

The fearless lawyer was branded disloyal to a boss who had helped him rise from obscurity and the fallout interpreted as betrayal.

But the 600-page book provided Kenyans with a rare insight into mega-corruption scandals in the coalition government – if the claims are anything to go by.

Despite the newfound love after making an about-turn, Miguna dismissed his former boss as a very weak leader.

“I also know that he doesn’t believe in, is not committed to, and doesn’t represent the new dispensation.

“He isn’t dedicated to the fight against corruption. He has no loyalty but to himself and his immediate circle… It’s obvious that Raila is a nepotist,” he wrote in the book.

He reported that then Agriculture minister Sally Kosgei and her Lands counterpart James Orengo had described Raila as “incompetent, confused and disorganised”.

Critics used the startling revelations to fight Raila, who had marketed himself as the cleaner party in the coalition regime.

Miguna would accuse almost everyone else in the Office of the Prime Minister of engaging in high-level graft, including Raila whom he claimed to have ignored several requests for intervention in the corruption deals in his office.

Some of the claims were, however, unsupported, and he would go on to indicate some allegations as information he had only heard from other parties.

Miguna was frustrated when he reported the instantaneous transformation of an official from a “humble, struggling young professional to a wealthy man” to Raila - who reportedly did nothing.

“Jakom, hear what Miguna is saying… that people are saying that I bought the official who said in a reported meeting he attended to fight the claims raised by Miguna.”

Odinga has not responded to his legal advisor’s accusations made in 2012, but is reported to have scolded Miguna.

“Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm... is that so? Miguna, what’s wrong if (name withheld) bought a hotel, hmmm? What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with Luos?” Raila is reported to have said.

In the widely-publicised maize scandal, Miguna took the claims to Raila’s doorstep, even alleging that some family members were involved in the irregular importation, in which an estimated Sh10 billion was lost.

Beyond the claims of corruption, the deported lawyer tried to paint Raila as a cold-hearted and selfish leader who had benefited from others but never went out of his way for anybody else.