Miguna Miguna Finally Returns to Kenya 1,716 Days After His Deportation
Kenyan-Canadian attorney Miguna Miguna has finally returned to Kenya, 1,716 days after he was deported to Canada by former President Kenyatta’s administration.
Miguna landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Thursday at 6 a.m. aboard a Kenya Airways flight and was received by a large crowd of supporters.
“I am very very very grateful for the warm welcome that you have given me, and I am extremely happy to be back home. I extend my gratitude to all Kneyans who have stood with me, with the Bill of Rights in the constitution, with the cause of justice, the dictates of democracy and the dictates of the rule of law," Miguna told reporters at JKIA.
He expressed his gratitude to President Ruto, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, their administration and the judiciary for protecting his rights and facilitating his return.
“I would like to extend my gratitude to the Judiciary that stood firm with the rule of law. I must extend my gratitude to Kenyans who voted overwhelmingly for the Kenya Kwanza government because that is central for me. Without this administration I would not be back home," he said.
“I am thanking the president, his deputy and their administration and everybody else who has worked tirelessly to make sure that my rights and the rights of every other Kenyan are protected. What has happened to me should never happen to anyone else. A Kenyan born citizen cannot be removed forcefully from the country and banished to a foreign land."
Miguna was deported to Canada in February 2018 following his arrest for administering the swearing-in of ODM leader Raila Odinga as ‘people’s president’. Immigration authorities claimed he was a Canadian national, arguing that he never re-applied for his Kenyan citizenship after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution which provides for dual citizenship.
In 2018, a Nairobi court ruled the lawyer is a Kenyan citizen and that his birthright cannot be changed. High Court judge Chacha Mwita awarded Miguna Sh7 million for what the court found to be a violation of his human rights.