Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has added his voice to the Miguna Miguna deportation saga, saying the lawyer’s treatment was inhumane and unconstitutional.
In an interview with former anti-corruption czar John Githongo, Mutunga argued that the matter should have ended when a court ruled that Miguna was Kenyan and that he had not lost his citizenship.
He said he was “pained and traumatised” by how State officers blatantly violated court orders.
“It is shameful. What happened to [Nasa Strategist] David Ndii, Miguna, and the likes of Wanjigi losing their passports, should not have happened,” he said.
Mutunga noted that what is happening in Kenya is a repetition of what happened in the early 70’s during the time of the colonial judiciary.
“These are things that happened in the 70s and that should not happen in a modern society.”
Mutunga added: “I look at Matiang’i and the way he is talking and chest-thumping and wonder who is advising him. What is the AG, Solicitor General and DPP doing because what the CS is doing is not good for the country.”
“It is nauseating. It is very painful. Kenyans should not have seen what happened at the JKIA. Freedom of movement is absolute and even if you take someone’s passport you need to explain why.”
The former CJ further warned that if mechanisms are not put in place to ensure laws are adhered to, the country might sink into anarchy.
“These things have really traumatised me. They have reminded of the days when people would mysteriously disappear or police would come for you before your wife and children and hold you incommunicado. You would not know what would happen. This is exactly what birthed the Nyayo torture chambers.”
Mutunga said that the Judiciary now had the biggest role to defend the Constitution.
“The Judiciary is at a crossroads. They either uphold the Constitution and protect all of us from what is emerging to be a dictatorship. It should be the temple of justice where these people being oppressed run,” he said.
“It cannot be what it was in the Moi and Jomo Kenyatta dictatorships. When they are making orders about Miguna, they are not doing it because they are courageous. They are doing it because it is what the Constitution they swore to protect says.”
