Miguna Miguna was lawfully deported, security bosses insist

Lawyer Miguna Miguna was deported because he had an illegal Kenyan passport, senior government officials told the High Court yesterday.

In their affidavits filed with the courts, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti and Director of Immigration Gordon Kihalangwa responded on why they pulled the outspoken lawyer off the courts and sent him to Canada.

Judge Luka Kimaru had ordered the officers to swear and file affidavits by yesterday explaining why Miguna was removed from the hands of courts and why they should not be punished for defying court orders.

Boinnet says he was scheduled to attend a National Security Council meeting on the day the judge required him to turn up in court. Kihalagwa on the other side says he was not a party to the court proceedings and so he was not aware of any orders curtailing him in his duties.

“I then directed the DCI to ensure the National Police Service (NPS) is represented in court as a sign that I and the entire NPS hold this court and the Judiciary in high esteem,” he says.

He says due to the nature of his duties as the Inspector General, it is mandatory that he attends all National Security Council meetings for purposes of ensuring safety and security.

Boinnet says the court ruled that since Miguna had been produced before a court of law with competent jurisdiction, it was not necessary for him as the third respondent in the matter to appear before the court as it would not serve any purpose.

Special assignment

“By the time I was being aware of the third ruling, I had already been informed by the DCI that he had given instructions that Miguna be released pursuant to the directions issued by this court directing his release on a Sh50,000 cash bail,” he says.

He says the DCI has been on special assignment regarding the Boni Enclave operation in Lamu County and he assured him that an officer would attend the court proceedings on their behalf as NPS’s commitment to the rule of law and obedience of court orders.

“I was duly informed by the DCI that Mr Amos Omuga (SSP), a senior legal officer within NPS, did attend court proceedings on February 7, 2018.”

The police boss further says he was informed by the DCI that Miguna was later arrested by Immigration officers.

Kihalangwa in his affidavit says it is not disputed that Miguna was born on December 31, 1962 in Nyando, Kisumu County.

He says sometimes in 1987, Miguna applied for a Kenyan passport to enable him travel to Havana, Cuba, for the congress of International Union of Students (IUS) and the World Student Conference as a student leader.

He says the application was rejected.

“On September 12, 1992, he again wrote to the Kenya High Commissioner in Ottawa – Canada requesting him to intervene and issue him with a Kenyan passport,” says Kihalangwa.

Kihalangwa says in the letter to the envoy, he had stated that he fled the country in 1998 as a political refugee and that he travelled to Canada without a Kenyan passport since he requested for one and had been denied in 1987. He says a Kenyan passport was illegally issued to Miguna in 2009 when he made another application in 2009.