Canada wanted 'their Miguna' back, says Interior Ministry

Miguna Miguna was deported after the Canadian embassy in Nairobi asked for 'their' citizen, Interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka has revealed.

"The Canadian government last week asked about their citizen saying they wanted him released. So, we not only released him but took him back to the country," Njoka said.

Speaking to the Star on phone on Wednesday, Njoka said Miguna renounced the Kenyan citizenship immediately he applied for a Canadian passport.

"The moment he got his Canadian citizenship

in the 1990's and it is illegal for a Kenyan

to get

another citizenship. He automatically renounced the Kenyan citizenship," he said.

Njoka said Miguna should have registered to have a dual citizenship, something that he did not do and hence the deportation.

"When he came back and wanted to vie, he should have followed a process like registering the dual citizenship holder which he never did," he added.

But Miguna, in a statement from Amsterdam, said he has never renounced his citizenship.

"I have never, ever renounced my Kenyan citizenship and will never do that. I’ve never even contemplated it. The constitution is crystal clear: no one can invalidate or purport to cancel the citizenship of a Kenyan-born citizen," Miguna said.

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Asked why the lawyer was capable of running for the Nairobi governor seat when he was not a Kenyan, Njoka said it was an illegality.

"When he came back to Kenya

without disclosing he was a Canadian

citizen,

he was issued with a Kenyan passport which was an illegality," he said.

"So, when we looked closely after the Canadian Embassy called, we found out that Miguna was a citizen of Canada and not Kenya."

IEBC communications officer Andrew Limo said Miguna used his Kenyan passport to be cleared to contest the Nairobi governor seat.

"When we contacted the returning officer who handled the issue, he told me that they used a passport to clear him to vie for the position," Limo said.

According to the constitution:

(1) A person is not eligible for election or appointment to a State office unless the person is a citizen of Kenya.
(2) A State officer or a member of the defence forces shall not hold dual citizenship.
(3) Clauses (1) and (2) do not apply to--

(a) judges and members of commissions; or
(b) any person who has been made a citizen of another country by operation of that country’s law, without ability to opt out.

The controversial lawyer was deported following the role he played in the swearing in of Opposition leader Raila Odinga as the "people's president".

He subsequently taunted the police, telling them to come and arrest him, which they did in a dawn raid last week.