Deported Kenyan-Canadian lawyer Miguna Miguna has fired a salvo at the state after warning that, if elected the governor of Nairobi County in the February by-election, he will not work with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
The NMS was created by President Uhuru Kenyatta to ensure that Nairobi County residents continue to receive services amid a leadership vacuum brought by a court order that barred the now impeached Mike Sonko from running City Hall affairs while facing corruption charges.
Without a deputy governor for nearly three years following the resignation of Polycarp Igathe in January 2018, City Hall tailspun into chaos after Sonko was arrested and charged with corruption-related offences.
Now and seemingly reading from Sonko’s oft-repeated charge, the fiery and controversial lawyer who was unveiled as the Thirdway Alliance Party candidate for the Nairobi seat, claimed that the NMS is an illegal entity.
“I will not work with #NMS. Nobody elected them. I will work with Kenyans – residents of Nairobi to provide them with jobs, housing health care, water, a clean environment and social justice. #NMS is an illegal outfit and an agent of organized criminals and oligarchs,” said Miguna, who still faces the hurdle of not only being cleared by the electoral commission but also being let in the country by the Interior ministry.
The lawyer found himself on the wrong side of government authorities over his role in the mock swearing-in of opposition leader, Raila Odinga, as the Peoples’ President on January 30, 2018.
After the divisive affair, Miguna was seized and deported to Canada ending the political drama that ensued after the two presidential elections of 2017.
The lawyer seems to be reading from the same script as Sonko who months before his impeachment failed to authorise the release of monies to the NMS.
The exiled lawyer, who is currently in Toronto, said in his tweets that he will ensure city dwellers enjoy the fruits of devolution.
He also said that he will ensure that the Nairobi County askaris work and serve the people and that they will not be used as “tools of oppression.”
Already, a number of leaders have declared interest in taking over from Sonko, they include former Dagoretti South MP Denis Waweru, former Starehe MP Bishop Margaret Wanjiru and former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu.
But the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, said that they have not yet cleared Waititu to vie for the Nairobi governor’s seat.
