Raila aide a Kenyan citizen: Kajwang’

An aide of Prime Minister Raila Odinga has not renounced his Kenyan citizenship and therefore remains a citizen, a Cabinet minister has clarified. There is no evidence of Mr Miguna Miguna being in possession of a foreign passport, Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’ said on Wednesday.

In an interview with NTV, Mr Kajwang’ told off those doubting Mr Miguna’s citizenship. “Mr Miguna is a Kenyan citizen by birth. I have looked at his file and there is no evidence that he has renounced his citizenship,” he said.

Mr Miguna, Mr Odinga’s adviser on coalition affairs, has recently found himself under tight scrutiny by politicians aligned to the PNU wing of the coalition. They wrote a letter to the PM and copied it to Head of Civil Service, Francis Muthaura, calling for his sacking.

The letter, also copied to newsrooms, asked Mr Odinga to fire Mr Miguna from the Coalition Management Team for breaching the Constitution. “While Mr Miguna Miguna was born in Kenya, he has since become a citizen of Canada. Like all other expatriates working in the country, our laws require that Mr Miguna apply for and obtain the relevant permits to live and work in Kenya,” read the letter also copied to the Canadian High Commissioner in Kenya.

In response, Mr Miguna said those making the allegations must prove “where, how and when I renounced my Kenyan citizenship which I acquired by birth”. And on Wednesday, Mr Kajwang’, while explaining the legal processes involved in stripping someone of citizenship, came to the defence of Mr Miguna.

Renounce

“Losing citizenship is not that easy because it’s a birthright. Even if you want to renounce it, the Kenyan government must release you so that you don’t become stateless,” he said. He said if it had been established that Mr Miguna had another passport, he could only be asked to choose one and renounce the other.

According to the PNU team, Mr Miguna’s Canadian passport (number MJ393885) expired on January 27, 2008, and he subsequently got a Kenyan one on March 23, 2009. This, they argued, makes Mr Miguna ineligible to work in the country.