KENYA: EXILED MIGUNA FREE TO ENTER KENYA

By Our Correspondent, NAIROBI Kenya

The High Court has issued orders compelling the state to facilitate the entry of Miguna Miguna into Kenya on Tuesday.

Justice Weldon Korir on Monday said the Director of Immigration, DCI and National Police Service should not interfere in any way with Miguna's entry into the country.

Korir also ordered that Registrar of the High Court release to Miguna's lawyer or an authorised officer of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) a copy of his passport.

In a statement on Monday, the Interior Ministry confirmed it will comply with court orders directing it to allow the controversial Toronto-based lawyer back into the country.

Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna on Sunday said the state would not interfere with Miguna's return to his motherland.

The clearance now paves the way for his return following his disgraced deportation in February 2018.

Oguna said President Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration that the firebrand lawyer would be allowed into the country suffices for his peaceful entry.

“None other than the chief executive officer of the country has made a public pronouncement on the matter. That remains the government’s position and nothing has changed at all,” he told the Star.

On Monday last week, the President waded into the issue and hinted that the Toronto-based barrister would be allowed into the country if he returned this month.

“Nobody has been told not to speak his mind,” President Kenyatta stressed during the burial of multiparty democracy crusader Charles Rubia in Kandara, Murang’a. 

“You can walk on the road and even shout at the top of your voice. I have heard that others even want to board flights and come to say what they want to say, let them come. That is their freedom.”

The government’s change of heart against one of its fiercest critics comes as Miguna announced he would land at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, at 9 pm on Tuesday.

The lawyer was deported to Canada after spending five days in police custody for presiding over the swearing-in of ODM leader Raila Odinga as the people’s president on January 30, 2018.