Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has denied before the Parliamentary Committee Administration and National Security that lawyer Miguna Miguna was deported and his Canadian passport confiscated.
The Cabinet Secretary also told the House committee a section of the judiciary was frustrating the executive through a series of court injunctions in concert with “a clique of lawyers and activists.”
The CS maintained that Government only returned Miguna to the port of his departure after he failed to produce his travel documents upon his arrival on Monday, March 26.
According to Dr Matiang’i, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet could not produce Miguna before the court as it had been ordered because he was not under his custody but the “airside’’ and therefore not in Kenya after failure to be cleared at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Lawyer-cum politician Miguna had accused Dr Matiang’i, the IG and Immigration PS, retired Major General Gordon Kihalangwa, of being at the centre of his tribulations.
Dr Matiang’i, however, called the harassment journalists’ at the airport unfortunate, promising to honour the findings the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) and forward report to the committee.
But he also criticised the filming and photographing of the immigration section of the airport.
“Which international airport on earth will you be filming the way media was doing at JKIA… after investigation by IPOA I will come when investigation is done, we want a full blown investigation on what happened to the media at the airport,” he said.
A day after Miguna’s deportation to Dubai Kenya Airports Police Unit boss Philip Ndolo was tellingly transferred and his position taken over by Titus Ndung’u who was an official trip to Nairobi from his station.
The Interior CS further defended his failure to honour court summons saying he was attending a GSU pass out parade at Embakasi and his presence there was vital.
He accused some of the judges for conspiring with some lawyers and activists to put government in a ‘bad light’.
After Dr Miguna’s first deportation in February, the government’s position has been that he acquired his Kenyan passport illegally, with the help of the then Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang’ after his applications had been rejected.
Dr Matiang’i said the ministry is in the process of cleaning up the irregular issuance of passports that has tainted Kenya’s relations with other countries.
Matiang’i added he was surprised with how High Court judge was able to file a 36-page document of the judgment within few minutes. He said, the three have moved to Court of Appeal over the matter and even sought the Attorney General’s direction on how the judicial officers conducted themselves.
