Self-declared NRM leader Miguna Miguna has spoken for the first time since his name was rejected by the Nairobi County assembly speaker Beatrice Elachi on Tuesday.
Taking to Twitter, the fiery lawyer said that he is not a member of the Uhuru Kenyatta led Jubilee party, or any other political party, to deserve the appointment by Governor Mike Sonko, adding that he did not apply for the job.
“In 2017 the IEBC cleared me for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat as an independent candidate. I don’t belong to any political outfit except the National Resistance Movement.
“I was a Kenyan registered voter in 2007, 2013 and 2017. I never applied for nor considered to be Governor Mike Sonko’s deputy,” he posted on Twitter, Tuesday night.
He added: “Elachi isn’t ignorant. The choreographed malicious distractions are and have been deliberate from the beginning. The despots know that I’m a Kenyan citizen by birth and I never lost it. They haven’t tabled any credible evidence that I lost my citizenship.”
Miguna was picked early last month by the governor to deputise him, after the resignation of Polycarp Igathe in January.
“Pursuant to Standing Order number one of the Assembly, the name of the nominee be referred back to the appointing authority for further validation,” said Ms Elachi.
In her notice, Ms Elachi cited Article 78 of Constitution on dual citizenship, which put Miguna on the firing line. Miguna holds dual citizenship of Kenya and Canada.
“A person is not eligible for election or appointment to a State office unless the person is a citizen of Kenya. Any person who has been made a citizen of another country by operation of that country’s law, without ability to opt out,” states part of Section 78 which Elachi cited.
Long process
Earlier, Elachi had hinted that Miguna was supposed to clear with the Immigration Department prior to his vetting in parliament.
She had anticipated that the exercise would have taken more than a month depending on when the matter will be resolved.
She observed that this is in line with one of the requirements for those wishing to take up political posts in the country.
“I will tell him, first of all you are a Canadian and until you clear your issues with the Kenyan government, then is when we can now understand that we have a Deputy Governor, the law states very clearly that you have to be a Kenyan.
“You know there are procedures also when you are vying as a member and this is a political position and so you have to go through the same vetting of a political position,” she said during a radio interview.
-pulselive.co.ke
