“If they want to look for the person who is responsible it is me and Odinga. Let them come for us!”/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 1 – The self-proclaimed General of the outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) Miguna Miguna has dared the State to arrest him for executing the oath National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga took on Tuesday.
Miguna told a news conference on Thursday that the arrest of Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang on Wednesday was erroneous since the lawmaker played no role during the self-declared inauguration of Odinga as the People’s President.
“The illegal arrest of Kajwang must be condemned. It must be opposed and if they arrest any of us, the same. Kajwang did not play any role in the swearing-in. I’m the one who signed the oath and conducted it,” he said.
“If they want to look for the person who is responsible it is me and Odinga. Let them come for us!” he yelled.
Miguna who served as a senior advisor of Odinga between 2009 and 2011 before falling out with the former Prime Minister dismissed reports that he was hiding from the police since the arrest of Kajwang.
He said he had no reason to hide.
“Don’t engage in subterfuge that you’re conscripting Kajwang so that he could tell you who was responsible. We’re not hiding. We’re responsible,” Miguna warned the authorities.
Miguna said he does not regret commissioning the oath taken by Odinga insisting that he contravened no law.
“I commissioned the oath as a barrister, solicitor, a commissioner for oaths, and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. If you want to take me to court for doing my job: come baby come,” the author of ‘Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya,’ an insider account of a corruption cartel he claimed was sanctioned by Odinga during his tenure as Prime Minister, said.
He signed the oath taken by Odinga as a witness under his Miguna and Company Advocates law firm name.
Miguna has been on the police radar since Wednesday, police sources saying he is wanted for administering the oath the government has termed as illegal, with the assistance of Kajwang.
Although Kajwang’s role at the NASA inauguration on Tuesday is still a subject of debate, his appearance at the venue fully robed and wearing a lawyer’s wig is believed to be the source of his tribulations.
His appearance is understood to have depicted him as the oath administer, under Article 141(1) of the Constitution.
The Article reads: “the swearing in of the President-elect shall be in public before the Chief Justice, or, in the absence of the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice.”
Whereas the oath taken by Odinga was so similar to the one outlined under the Third Schedule of the Constitution, which was taken by President Uhuru Kenyatta when he was sworn in for a second term on November 28, it was altered to imply that the NASA presidential candidate in last year’s presidential election was assuming office as the People’s President, a position which does not exist in law.
“I Raila Amollo Odinga in full realisation of the high calling assume the office of the People’s President of the Republic of Kenya do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the People and the Republic of Kenya and that I will preserve, protect, and, defend the Constitution of Kenya as by law established and all other laws of the Republic as adopted by the people of Kenya,” the 73-year-old swore.
“I will protect, uphold the sovereignty, integrity, and dignity of the people of Kenya. So help me God,” he went on.
Odinga’s alliance had published results it termed as authentic and a true reflection of the August 8 presidential election annulled by the Supreme Court following a successful petition by Odinga and his running mate, Kalonzo Musyoka.
NASA dismissed a fresh election held on October 26 – in compliance with orders by the apex court – as a sham and refused to acknowledge Kenyatta’s win in that election.
According to NASA’s version of the August poll, Odinga garnered 8,104,744 votes (50.24 per cent) against President Kenyatta’s 7,908,215 votes (48.92 per cent).
NASA used their results as the basis for the swearing-in of Odinga on Tuesday.
The inauguration, however, ended up in unfinished after Musyoka and two other NASA co-leaders – Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula – gave it a wide berth.
Odinga could not clearly explain the absence of the three only telling a crowd of NASA supporters that turned out for the inauguration: “I want to tell you that Musyoka, Mudavadi, and Wetangula are still with us and you will be told what happened later.”
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