- Miguna was arrested on February 2, 2018, after police broke down the door to his house in a dawn raid.
- The lawyer returned to the country but after hours of being denied entry at the JKIA, he was on the night of March 28 deported for a second time.
Image: MIGUNA MIGUNA/X
Lawyer Miguna Miguna has reminisced about the ill-treatment he underwent under the Jubilee regime in 2018 that culminated in his forced exile to Canada.
In a statement on Thursday, the outspoken advocate said President William Ruto promised to have all the cases relating to the maltreatment resolved but nothing has been done to date.
"In January, President William Ruto apologised to me over barbaric torture, forced exile and horrendous treatment the government that he served as DP subjected me to. He promised to have all the cases relating to those abuses resolved. 12 months later, I’m still waiting," Miguna said via a statement on X.
In a subsequent post on X, Miguna said he on Thursday served former Interior CS Fred Matiang'i court summons and pleadings at his Karen home through a process server.
"Matiang’i and other defendants must answer for torture, abuse of power, malicious prosecution, forced exile and many other crimes. Justice shall prevail no matter how long it takes," he said.
Miguna was first deported to Canada on February 7, 2018, following his role in the unofficial swearing-in of opposition leader Raila Odinga as "the people's president" on January 30.
He was arrested on February 2, 2018, after police broke down the door to his house in Nairobi in a dawn raid.
The barrister said he was kept "in unlawful incommunicado detention for five days under the most horrendous, cruel and inhumane conditions imaginable".
The lawyer would later be charged at a Kajiado court with "being present and consenting to the administration of an oath to commit a capital offence, namely treason".
The government under then President Uhuru Kenyatta ignored court orders to release him on bail.
On March 28, Miguna returned to the country but after hours of being denied entry at the JKIA, he was deported for a second time.
The government insisted that Miguna, who holds Canadian dual citizenship, was not a Kenyan citizen.
He was flown to Dubai and later claimed he was "dragged, assaulted, drugged".
"I woke up in Dubai and the despots are here insisting that I must travel on to London," he said in a Facebook post on March 29, 2018.
High Court judge George Odunga fined then Interior CS Fred Matiang'i, then Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet and then Director of Immigration Gordon Kihalangwa Sh200,000 for contempt of court.
Odunga said the three had "failed to adhere to the rule of law" and ignored the orders of the court in their treatment of Miguna.
"There is no immunity for impunity; a time has come when the courts must lift the veil against those who act with impunity in disobeying it. No man is above the law. The Government officials cannot be allowed to catwalk around while disobeying court orders,” Odunga said while convicting the three officials.
Miguna returned to Kenya on October 20, 2022, shortly after President William Ruto took power on September 13 that year.
He claimed the President personally facilitated the processing and delivery of his Kenyan passport to Canada for his travel home.
Upon arrival at the JKIA, Miguna extended gratitude to all Kenyans who stood with him, the judiciary and President Ruto whom he also thanked saying, "Without this administration, I would not be back home".
On January 14, Miguna said in a statement that President Ruto apologised to him in person.
"President William Ruto, the President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces, earlier this morning apologised to me on his behalf and on behalf of the Government for the brutality inflicted upon me by the previous regime," he said.
"I accept the apology."
On the day Miguna returned, Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua said it was in Ruto's purview to apologise to Miguna over his deportation by the Jubilee administration, in which he served as Deputy President.
"What happened was a great mistake and a great atrocity by the government of Kenya of which the current President was a happy Deputy President at that time," Karua said.
"It's an action he cannot dissociate himself with," she added.
Former IEBC Commissioner Roselyn Akombe said the apology was long overdue and added that no Kenyan should ever be subjected to such treatment.
"A long overdue apology but great that it has happened. No human being should ever be put through what Daktari Miguna Miguna went through," she said.