Miguna Miguna a Kenyan, court rules

 

Firebrand politician Miguna Miguna in a file photo. Court termed him a political refugee without a passport in Canada. [File, Standard]

Politician Miguna Miguna is a Kenyan citizen, High Court has ruled.

Justice Chacha Mwita on Friday ruled that his birthright is not affected by him holding a Canadian passport. He added that Miguna’s rights were violated when the State deported him.

The judge awarded Miguna-Miguna Sh7 million as compensation.

Miguna Miguna , who alleged that he was sedated and handcuffed while he was being deported in March, lauded the ruling. 

 

In February there was an outcry after  Miguna Miguna was deported from Kenya to Canada. Government officials said Miguna was deported because he had denounced Kenyan citizenship.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Mwenda Njoka said Miguna renounced 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.

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.

The official government newsroom- NEXUS- said on Twitter, ‘‘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”.

Miguna was driven from Kajiado Law Courts and held at the ICD police deport in Industrial Area before he was taken to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and placed onto a KLM flight departing Nairobi for Amsterdam at midnight.