Drama at JKIA as Miguna Miguna Resists Second Deportation

Drama ensued at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Monday night as Kenya immigration officials attempted to deport lawyer Miguna Miguna again to Canada.

Immigration officials say Miguna Miguna was not refused entry as he claimed, but rather that he refused to present the Canadian passport he was traveling on as requested, which created the standoff.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka in a tweet said all travelers are required by local and international travel regulations to present to immigration officials the documents they traveled with to the point of entry, which Miguna refused to do. “The Government has not denied Miguna Miguna entry into the country. Upon arrival at JKIA he was asked to present the passport he traveled on. He declined," Njoka said in a tweet.

"It is a requirement under the law and International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations for travellers to show the documents they travelled on at the point of entry,” Njoka added.

After an eight-hour stand-off at JKIA, a group of police officers and immigration officers forced the National Resistance Movement (NRM) self-declared general into a Dubai-bound Emirates flight.  Miguna however resisted the move and disembarked from the plane, saying ““I am not going anywhere….where is my luggage? Where is my passport? You cannot take me from my country by force.”

The flight, which had already been delayed by the commotion, left without Miguna.

Cliff Ombeta, Miguna’s lawyer, had earlier in the day said that the government wants his client to enter the country on a temporary visa as a foreigner rather than as a Kenyan so that the government can declare him to be illegally in the country when his visa expires.

"They want him to take a temporary visa so that he becomes stateless when it expires. We have advised him not to sign the papers. They are now consulting their seniors,” Mr Ombeta told journalists.

Miguna was initially deported to Canada six weeks ago after the Interior Ministry said he was in the country illegally. The government said Miguna was in illegal possession of a Kenyan passport after having abandoned his Kenyan citizenship by becoming a Canadian citizenship. The government said following the promulgation of the new constitution that allows for dual citizenship, Miguna is eligible to regain his Kenyan citizenship by submitting an application to the Immigration department, but that he had not done so at the time of his deportation and should not have entered the country on a Kenyan passport.