Miguna wants Air France, Lufthansa forced to lift red alerts

Canada-based lawyer Miguna Miguna wants the High Court to compel two international airlines to lift red alerts issued by the Kenyan government two years ago, so as to facilitate his planned return to Nairobi on November 16.

Dr Miguna yesterday asked the court in Nairobi to issue an order directing Air France and Lufthansa Group (operating as German Airlines) to lift the ban that prevents them from allowing him to board their planes. 

In an application filed under certificate of urgency, his lawyer John Khaminwa informed Justice Hellen Ong'undi that he has already booked an air ticket to travel from Canada via Germany and France to land in Kenya on November 16.

Dr Khaminwa said the orders sought against the airlines are meant to enforce six previous court orders made in respect of Dr Miguna. 

"It is lawful and just that the red alerts issued to the two airlines and any other airline be lifted forthwith. Chief Justice Willy Mutunga (retired) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Nelson Havi are scheduled to fly to Canada to accompany Miguna back home," argued Dr Khaminwa.

He indicated that the alerts were issued by the Attorney-General and the Cabinet secretaries for Interior and Foreign Affairs after Dr Miguna's removal from Kenya in February 2018.

The fresh application is Dr Khaminwa's second attempt to see whether Dr Miguna will be able to return to Nairobi after his return scheduled for January 7, 2020 aborted on basis of the red alerts.

His return was in light of a court order dated December 18, 2019 by High Court Judge Chacha Mwita who ruled that the fiery lawyer’s deportation was illegal, and that his rights and fundamental freedoms had been grossly violated.

Justice Mwita also compelled the government to immediately return to Dr Miguna his Kenyan passport and any other identification documents taken from him.

Following the ruling, Dr Miguna purchased a ticket to travel to Kenya from Berlin via Frankfurt on January 7, 2020 at 9:25pm. He was to use a Lufthansa flight.

A day earlier, (on January 6, 2020), High Court Judge Justice Weldon Korir (now promoted to Court of Appeal) issued another order restraining the State agencies from interfering in any way with Dr Miguna's entry into Kenya based on his identification through the use of his national identity card or his Kenya Passport in the form and state it was delivered by the government agencies to the court's registry.

On the strength of the two court orders, Dr Miguna sought to check in to board a Lufthansa Airline plane at Berlin Airport for Nairobi via Frankfurt Germany.

However, the court papers indicate, the airline's agents denied him to check in on account that they had been barred by the Kenyan Government from transporting him “to Kenya or any other African country”.

On attempting to board the Air France Flight to Nairobi, the same communication was passed to him.

Dr Khaminwa adds that the airlines said they would only transport Mr Miguna to Kenya if they received an advisory from the Foreign Affairs Cabinet secretary indicating that the advisory had been vacated.

"Miguna is entitled to enter Kenya as a matter of Constitutional right and further, by virtue of several orders and a decree made in that regard," said Dr Khaminwa. 

The court will rule on the application tomorrow (Friday) morning. 

In the petition, the lawyer explains that Dr Miguna is a Kenyan citizen by birth born in Magina village on the shores of River Nyando in the Kano Plains, Kisumu County. 

Both his parents, his father Joshua Miguna Jomune and his mother Margaret Sure Miguna (now both deceased), were Kenyan citizens by birth.

He says Dr Miguna also holds Canadian citizenship acquired through registration.

Dr Miguna is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, admitted in 2008 and a Barrister and Solicitor in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

"Mr Miguna served as public officer and specifically a Constitutional and Legal Adviser to the Grand Coalition government between 2008 and 2012 and undertook many official foreign missions on behalf of the government of Kenya. In 2017, Mr Miguna was one of the candidates cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to run for the position of Governor, Nairobi County," the court papers read.

Further, the lawyer says his client was also an aspirant in 2007 General Election for Nyando parliamentary seat during the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) primaries. 

He has voted in Kenya's last three general elections. 

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