Exiled Kenyan lawyer Miguna Miguna has declared interest for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat following the impeachment of Mike Mbuvi Sonko.
In a post on social media on Saturday night, the self-declared National Resistance Movement (NRM) General, who lives in Canada, stated that he had consulted widely and arrived at a decision to run for the seat from exile having tried unsuccessfully to return home.
“To CJ David K. Maraga, CJ Willy Mutunga, Law Society of Kenya, Waikwa Wanyoike and other constitutional lawyers: Given Despot Uhuru Kenyatta’s refusal to allow me entry to Kenya in violation of many court orders, doesn’t the Constitution grant me the RIGHT to vie for public office from exile?” he posed.
“Having received competent legal advice from Waikwa Wanyoike on Dec. 19, 2020, I, Miguna Miguna, a Kenyan citizen by birth and registered voter in Nairobi, hereby declare my candidature for the position of Governor of Nairobi in the upcoming by-election. Volunteers are welcomed.”
Miguna ran for the gubernatorial seat in the 2017 General Election on an independent ticket but lost to Sonko. This will be his second attempt if he is allowed to vie by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Deported
Read: Lawyer Miguna Miguna Ejected from a Nairobi Bound Air France Flight
The barrister, whose attempts to return home in January this year proved futile due to a red alert issued by the Kenyan government, was forcefully deported to Canada on February 7, 2018, after being in police custody for days following his arrest for presiding over Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader 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 the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) after authorities denied him entry into the country on grounds that he is “not a Kenyan citizen”.
According to the government, Miguna acquired Kenyan passport in 2009 at a time when it was illegal for a Kenyan to hold dual-citizenship.
Read Also: Lawyer Miguna Miguna Shares Photos Of His Perforated Passport Retrieved From High Court Registrar
The government maintains that since the 2010 constitution allows dual citizenship he must reapply so that he can be issued with a Kenyan passport since his original passport had been destroyed.
However, the Kenyan born insists that at no point did he denounce his Kenyan citizenship.
“I have never, ever renounced my Kenyan citizenship and will never do that. I’ve never even contemplated it,” an infuriated Miguna said in a past interview.
In a ruling delivered on December 14, 2018, Judge Enock Chacha Mwita noted that Miguna’s deportation was unlawful and in violation of the Constitution.
Read Also: Miguna Miguna Finally Shares Photo of His Wife and Daughters Online
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.
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