Arrest Matiang'i, Boinnet and Kihalangwa, ODM tells Kenyans

Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has now asked Kenyans to arrest four top government officials among them Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who have been found guilty of contempt of court over lawyer Miguna Miguna’s detention and subsequent deportation.

In a statement, the party, through secretary-general Edwin Sifuna, said that Dr Matiang’i, Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet, and Immigration Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa should be arrested by the people.

“ODM calls on all Kenyans of goodwill, members of the bar, the civil society, and the church to come out on an appointed date next week to effect the court orders by arresting the convicted ‘criminals’, and bring these ‘fugitives’ before the law,” Mr Sifuna told journalists at the party’s headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday.

Further, the Orange party also called on Chief Justice David Maraga to deny the three, including Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, and their offices, audience in courts.

SHUT DOORS OF JUSTICE

“The Chief Justice should shut doors of justice on all those who have disobeyed and continue to disobey court orders,” Mr Sifuna said. “We urge the Judiciary to specifically deny audience in all courts of the Republic of Kenya to the ministry of interior, the DCI, the police, and the department of immigration, until Miguna Miguna is brought back to the country and set free unconditionally as ordered by the court.”

According to Mr Sifuna, if left unpunished, the blatant disregard for court orders in the Dr Miguna case — including his deportation in the face of a court order that he be produced in court — was an entrenchment of impunity in Kenya.

TOXINS

“That a Kenyan can be held incommunicado in a toilet, injected with unknown toxins, bundled on a flight, and deported from his motherland, is a most egregious assault on our Constitution,” Mr Sifuna said, reiterating Mr Miguna’s ordeal before his second deportation to Canada, via Dubai, the second in two months.

The party official said ODM had walked with Dr Miguna “throughout his persecution for imaginary crimes”, and that it would continue to offer its support until he is released, and returned to Kenya.

“We wish to make it clear that in this war, ODM shall fight side by side with the Judiciary. We wish to remind all Kenyans that the power of the people is always stronger than the people in power,” Mr Sifuna said.