Miguna celebrates seven months since return from exile
Miguna Miguna has celebrated seven months since his return from exile by thanking Kenyans for not voting for Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Alliance leader Raila Odinga.
Miguna, who jetted back to the country on 20 October 2022 after President William Ruto was sworn in as the fifth President of the Republic of Kenya, had been in exile in Canada since 2018.
Seven months later, Miguna thanked Kenyans for standing firm against former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s preferred candidate.
He tweeted, “7 months since my return from 4 years and 6 months of FORCED EXILE. Thanks to patriots who stood FIRM against Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga”.
The controversial lawyer and politician was forced into exile for participating in the mock swearing-in of his ally-turned-foe, Raila Odinga, as the ‘people’s president’ following the bitterly disputed 2017 presidential election.
One of the key arguments used by the state to exile him was that he had acquired Canadian citizenship at a time when Kenya did not support dual citizenship.
As such, the government argued that Dr Miguna forfeited his Kenyan citizenship when he took the Canadian one, even though he went to Canada to seek asylum during the oppressive Kanu regime of the late President Daniel arap Moi.
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Dr Miguna was also charged with treason and thereafter all his attempts to return to Kenya, despite several court orders to facilitate his return, were frustrated by the government of outgoing President Kenyatta.
To secure his citizenship, Miguna actively campaigned for Dr Ruto, who promised to grant his wish, while calling out Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga in unpublishable terms.
In March 2022, in an interview with the Voice of America (VoA), Dr Ruto said the Jubilee government had blatantly disobeyed court orders on numerous occasions, culminating in Miguna’s acrimonious deportation.
But he promised that on his return, he would bring Miguna back in the shortest possible time.
“That’s because he’s a Kenyan and even if he committed a crime, we have laws that he would be tried under. I don’t see the need to have refugees from other countries when our own is a refugee in another country,” he said.
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