The state does not have a problem with lawyer Miguna Miguna’s planned return into the country, Government Spokesperson Cyrus Oguna has said.
Reacting to claims that the exiled lawyer had been blocked by Germany authorities from boarding a plane from Berlin over an alert issued by the office of the President, Oguna said the Foreign Affairs Ministry ‘will deal with the red alert’.
“But that (red alert) is an issue that can be sorted by Foreign Affairs ministry,” he told Nation.
He further added that Miguna has an assurance from the President that the government will facilitate his entry into his motherland.
“The president’s clearance supersedes any other order,” he added.
He made the comments in reference to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent remarks that the government won’t bar Miguna from entering the country.
Oguna could neither confirm nor deny whether the red alert was sent or if it has been in place since 2018 when Miguna unsuccessfully attempted to return home.
While speaking to Hot 96’s Jeff Koinange on Tuesday morning, Miguna, a fierce critic of President Kenyatta, said that he had received a red alert from Germany authorities telling him he can not board a flight to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) or any other African country. He left Canada for Germany on Sunday and was expected to connect to Kenya on Tuesday.
“Lufthansa flight manager is saying that the Government of Kenya must send official communication to Lufthansa at Frankfurt office before I can be allowed to fly to Kenya or any other African country, ” he said.
The Lufthansa flight is scheduled to leave Germany at 11.20 am and arrive in Nairobi at 9.25 pm.
This comes just hours after the High Court ordered the Kenyan government to facilitate the exiled lawyer unconditional entry into the country.
Justice Weldon Korir barred the Immigration department and other State agencies involved in the case against interfering with Miguna’s return on Tuesday or any other date.
Moments after the order was issued, the Immigration department released a statement indicating that the lawyer, who has been deported twice and had his passport seized by the state, will be allowed entry into his mother as per court orders dated December 14, 2018.
In the 2018 order, judge Enock Chacha Mwita ruled that Miguna’s deportation was unlawful and in violation of the Constitution.
Justice Mwita further affirmed that the cancellation and the declaration that he was a prohibited immigrant were unconstitutional.
He dismissed the government’s narrative that Miguna is not a Kenyan citizen.
“I find and hold that he did not lose his citizenship upon acquiring a Canadian passport,“ Justice Mwita mentioned concerning his passport.
The High Court also awarded the lawyer Ksh7 million as compensation for the violation of his rights during his deportation to Canada.
The former gubernatorial candidate was first forced out of the country on February 7, 2018, after being in police custody for days following his arrest for presiding over former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s oath as the people’s president on January 30, 2018.
He was deported, for the second time, on March 29 after spending more than 72 hours in a tiny room at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) after authorities denied him entry into the country.
This is after he refused to produce his Canadian passport at JKIA and insisted that he can’t enter Kenya as a foreigner.
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