Miguna Miguna and Raila lock horns over deportation saga

In what seems to be a case of déjà vu, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga and self-declared NRM-K General Miguna Miguna have once again locked horns.

The two frenemies previously fell out in 2012 when Odinga fired the fiery lawyer from his then office of the Prime Minister.

Following his deportation and the continuous frustration of his efforts to come back to the country, Miguna now blames Odinga, saying the NASA leader has not done much — or anything at all — to come to his aid.

The Kenyan-Canadian lawyer’s social media rants imply that Odinga, through his monumental handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta, has the authority to aid his re-entry into the country but is doing nothing about it.

The latest spat comes on the backdrop of a speech Odinga made on Saturday at King’s College, London, where he seemingly implied that Miguna’s woes were as a result of his own doing.

Odinga stated that he was the one who brought Miguna into NASA and personally discussed his plight with President Kenyatta “that Miguna must be part of the package of this handshake” after which “I talked to Miguna himself and told him to come back.”

“This issue of Miguna is something that has been blown out of proportion,” said Odinga.

The former premier noted that he sent a team of lawyers to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to receive Miguna during the dramatic arrival on March 26, 2018.

As Miguna’s arrival and detention within the airport facilities became more and more chaotic, Odinga says he decided to personally go and find out what was happening.

On arrival, Odinga said, “I grabbed Miguna’s hand and came out with him, but at the main gate they closed the door. Then they came and told me ‘mzee, sisi tuko na instruction kutoka juu, hatuna shida na Bwana Miguna, tunataka tu atupatie passport tupige stamp aende. (Sir, we have instructions from above, we have no problem with Mr. Miguna, we only want him to give us his passport to stamp and then he can be on his way).”

He added that upon inquiring from Miguna why he could not hand over his passport to be stamped; the firebrand politician said he only had a national identity card.

“The  following morning they invited officials from the Canadian High Commission to the airport who gave Miguna forms to sign so that they could stamp those forms and let him in. He took those forms and tore them,” added Odinga.

“He can go to the High Commission in Ottawa (Canada) and get Kenyan papers to come with to Kenya.”

Miguna has, however, termed Odinga’s sequence of events as “scandalous falsehoods and unbelievable claims.”

“Raila Odinga is re-victimizing me. This is cruel coming from a man who, himself, has been detained and has been tortured. How cruel can one be to minimize what I have gone through,” said Miguna.

“When I was stopped from entering the country, this was done on live TV, it is not true that anybody asked me for anything at the airport, they simply refused to allow me entry. In fact, they had already booked a return flight for me in the air Dubai flight that was leaving that night.”

Miguna further goes ahead to state that Odinga’s presence at the airport during the March 26 incident was only to “supervise my torture, my assault, and my forceful exile. This is unspeakable cruelty.”

The controversial lawyer, in an 18-minute long podcast shared via his Twitter handle, accuses Odinga of peddling lies that even the lawyers present with him during the standoff – namely Cliff Ombeta, Senator James Orengo, John Khaminwa, Julie Soweto –  have not corroborated.

“This is dishonourable. It is disgraceful. It is beneath a person of the status of Raila Amollo Odinga. But here he is trying to peddle these lies in order to cover for his betrayal of his supporters; in order to justify torture and sedation; in order to justify forceful exile.”

Speaking on Odinga’s statement directing him to go to Ottawa for his travel documents, Miguna accuses the veteran politician of being mischievous and malicious.

“Raila Odinga knows that the embassy has no power to issue passports, the department of Immigration in Kenya does,” said Miguna.

“It is embarrassing and desperate for a man of Mr. Odinga’s age and status to lie that I had abducted myself, detained myself incommunicado at various polling stations and at a toilet at terminal 2 of JKIA, sedated myself, forced myself into a plane to Dubai unconscious on March 29 and forcefully exiled myself back  to Canada.”