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Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | Miguna Miguna, a firebrand member of the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition who flew back to Nairobi on Monday, was refused entry into Kenya and was forced onto an Emirates plane to Dubai. He refused to take his seat.
The flight at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) was delayed as Kenyan police and plane captain tried to calm down Miguna Miguna. The flight eventually took off from Nairobi, hours behind schedule.
Award Winning Journalist Jeff Koinange, who was on board the plane, filmed the entire standoff, and at the end of it tweeted: “Reporting LIVE and EXCLUSIVE from Emirates Flight EK 722 from Kenya to Dubai!!..I can CONFIRM that Miguna Miguna is NOT on this flight!!…On my way to Hamburg, Germany!!”
Earlier opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has recently agreed to work with President Uhuru Kenyatta, arrived at the airport and tried to secure entry for Miguna Miguna but failed.
Miguna Miguna’s lawyer Cliff Ombeta revealed that the political activist had been asked to surrender his Canadian passport, to which they declined.
Last month, Kenya’s High Court ordered immigration authorities to allow the outspoken member of the opposition alliance to return to the country, after his deportation earlier. Miguna Miguna was forced onto an international flight to Canada.
His deportation came after he was arrested for treason for taking part in the mock swearing-in of opposition leader Odinga, who insisted he was the rightful victor of last year’s elections.
The interior ministry said Miguna had “denounced” his Kenyan citizenship after obtaining Canadian citizenship several years ago.
The capture of Miguna Miguna pic.twitter.com/8xTS41m0Kq
— Nelson Havi (@NelsonHavi) March 26, 2018
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Miguna Miguna on board plane to Dubai barely 10 hours after he landed at JKIA from Canada #MigunaReturns pic.twitter.com/hqWXX3INUt
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) March 26, 2018
The doors have been closed and Miguna Miguna is not on board ~ @KoinangeJeff reporting LIVE from Dubai bound flight EK 722 #MigunaReturns pic.twitter.com/TKITZkPJoW
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) March 26, 2018
High Court judge Chacha Mwita last month ordered the immigration department to issue Miguna “with a travel document to enable him to re-enter and remain in Kenya pending the determination and hearing of his petition” to defend his citizenship.
“In default the petitioner shall be at liberty to use his Canadian passport to re-enter and remain in Kenya,” he said.
Holding dual citizenship is legal in Kenya, and in August, Miguna ran for political office, with proof of Kenyan citizenship a key criteria for all candidates.
Miguna holds no elected office, but has styled himself “general” of the opposition’s “National Resistance Movement” (NRM) wing, in charge of implementing a threatened programme of civil disobedience and boycotts.
Following Odinga’s inauguration, Kenya’s government designated the NRM as an “organised criminal group”.
However Mwita also suspended this decision.
Miguna’s enforced exile was yet another twist in the long saga of Kenya’s disputed elections which saw the Supreme Court annul the result of the initial August poll and Odinga boycott the October rerun, handing victory to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
