Gov't Justified in Deporting Miguna Miguna, Raila Confidant Sarah Elderkin Says

Opposition leader Raila Odinga's confidant Sarah Elderkin, has defended the government over the second 'deportation' of self-declared National Resistance Movement (NRM) general Miguna Miguna from the country.

In an article published on the Star newspaper, Elderkin, is one of Odinga’s closest and trusted allies said the State did not err in kicking the fiery lawyer out of the country for the second time. 

"In the matter of Miguna and his immigration status, Matiang’i is correct. You cannot allow entry into Kenya of a foreign citizen without the appropriate documents,” Elderkin argues.

“Miguna is completely in the wrong according to the law, as well as under international citizenship conventions,” she adds.

Elderkin, who now resides in the United Kingdom, noted that more than 3,000 former Kenyan citizens have applied to restore their citizenship after the 2010 Constitution allowed for dual nationality.

“Miguna has failed to follow suit. So what makes him different? Only his inflated, distorted opinion of himself, which he feels puts him above the law,” Elderkin writes.

“In February, the government used its perfectly legal powers to deport a loud-mouthed Canadian citizen they considered a nuisance,” she comments.

She says that Miguna would simply have produced his Canadian passport when he landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on March 26th for him to be granted entry into the country.

“Miguna flew into Nairobi airport on March 26, well knowing what was ahead of him, and what he had planned. He knew that any Kenyan passport he had was issued illegally, likewise any Kenyan ID card,” she says.

“Miguna had his Canadian passport all along, as he later himself admitted. But producing it and going about things correctly would have been too easy and would not have brought him the attention he wanted,” she argues.

“Nothing about Miguna’s demeanour – charming or furious – is accidental. Everything with Miguna is an act. And he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants,” says Elderkin.