The lawyer was dramatically picked up from his Runda home by a contingent of heavily armed police officers drawn from specialized units of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on February 2/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 26 – A lot has changed since Miguna Miguna, the self-declared General of the outlawed National Resistance Movement was deported to Canada.
A believer of power is taken and not given, the lawyer is expected back in the country on Monday afternoon, and thereafter he says, the “Lunga Lunga liberation dance will proceed.”
But he is aware that when he was away, a handshake occurred.
Not the usual one, but between Raila Odinga, the National Super Alliance leader – whose cause he was expelled fighting for – and President Uhuru Kenyatta – a person he believes must vacate office for electoral justice to be served.
It is through his guidance that Odinga, against all odds was sworn-in as the People’s President, marking the genesis of his woes.
The big question is, will Miguna find hostile or friendly ground?
He has since dismissed what many call the golden handshake and distanced NRM from it.
“The #NRMKe is not involved. We are not going to solve intractable societal ills through handshakes. We are going to do so through structural changes in governance,” the lawyer said.
– Betrayal or not?-
“Betrayal isn’t dialogue,” Miguna said of the March 9 unpredicted meeting at Harambee House.
He went ahead to explain that what he expected, a feeling he says is extended to Odinga’s supporters was a, “well-planned, thought out and transparent dialogue mediated by a neutral over real, substantive issues about electoral justice, democracy, rule of law and judicial independence.”
He was amused by what transpired at Harambee House.
“Mr. @RailaOdinga, you’ve betrayed Kenyans who fought and died for you. You have betrayed our Constitution & democracy. You have betrayed the rule of law. You have betrayed the cause for electoral justice. You have betrayed your comrades in the struggle for social justice. RETIRE!,” Miguna posted on his twitter handle a day after the handshake.
He also issued a detailed statement hours after the handshake, this time castigating the two.
“As Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta toast, hug and laugh in Nairobi, I remain marooned in Canada because I swore the former in at Uhuru Park on January 30th, 2018. I am here against my will. I am here despite the fact that I have a birthright to be in Kenya,” it reads.
READ: NRM ‘General’ Miguna Miguna exiled to Canada
– About Miguna Miguna –
Miguna is a Kenyan, born in Kisumu district and practices law both in Kenya and Canada – where he was granted political asylum, enabling him to pursue higher education and even obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy degree from the University of Toronto and later pursued law at the Osgoode Hall Law School. He often reminds his audience that he is a barrister and solicitor in Canada.
He was detained by the Moi regime due to political activism while serving as a student leader at the University of Nairobi, and fled to Tanzania on foot upon release, before heading to Swaziland for a brief stay before Canada took him in.
-How deportation all started –
The lawyer was dramatically picked up from his Runda home by a contingent of heavily armed police officers drawn from specialized units of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on February 2.
READ: Police go for Miguna after ‘come-baby-come’ taunt
The officers used explosives to force his door open after he allegedly declined to let them in at 5.30am.
This happened hours after he dared Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi to have him arrested, over Odinga’s ‘swearing-in’.
He made the “come baby come” taunts in defence of Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang who had earlier been arrested for the same.
“If they want to look for the person who is responsible it is me and Odinga. Let them come for us!” he bellowed.
This would his five days ordeal, as a guest of the state and ultimate deportation from the land to his adopted home.
READ: They treated me like a beast, Miguna says of 5 days in detention
“I have been treated like a beast. I have been treated so badly in the five days that I was kept incommunicado detention. I was only given food twice; I was not allowed to sleep, I was kept standing for more than 24 hours and when I was able to sleep, I slept on bare cement cold floor without anything. I have not been able to take a shower since Friday, even right now, my feet are swollen…” the self-proclaimed general said.
At some point, he said he was worried that “I was going to get an attack of pneumonia. I demanded to see a doctor but they refused. I have been tortured. These guys do not respect the rule of law and the constitution and worse of all they call themselves law enforcement agencies.”
During the January 30 event, Miguna was the signatory of the certificate handed over to Odinga, to certify him the People’s President.
Kalonzo Musyoka, the Wiper leader, did not attend the event though he was meant to take oath as People’s Deputy President.
About The Author
