Nasa MPs to file contempt suit over Miguna, Kajwang' detention
Nasa MPs are expected to file contempt of court suit against the government on Monday as it claimed that leaders aligned to the coalition are being targeted and persecuted unfairly and without provocation.
This comes as the government was put on the spot over its failures to release lawyer Miguna Miguna, who was being held at Lari police station in Kiambu as well as restore the normal transmission of three major private TV stations in the country despite court orders.
COURT
Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala disclosed to the Nation on Sunday that a team of lawyers led by Siaya Senator James Orengo and Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo among others, is working on a petition to be filed in court on Monday.
“We want the Jubilee administration to tell the court why it is not respecting court orders. It is a wrong move to arrest people arbitrarily, hold them incommunicado at undisclosed locations in this time of the new Constitution,” Mr Malala said.
On January 30, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) disabled the transmission signals of NTV, KTN News and Citizen TV for covering the “swearing-in” of Nasa principal Raila Odinga as the people’s president.
Mr Miguna was arrested on Friday after police broke into his Runda home. He was shuttled around the city in various cars before finally landing at Githunguri Police Station, Kiambu.
BOND
His lawyer Mr Edwin Sifuna rushed to court on the same day and obtained orders directing that his client be released on Sh50,000 bond pending his arraignment in court on Monday.
Mr Sifuna said that despite serving Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet as ordered by the court and also the DCI and OCS Githunguri, where Miguna was being held on Friday and Saturday, the police “acting on political orders” are yet to comply, three days since the orders were issued.
“This is purely political. The police are implementing illegal orders from the Jubilee leadership. It is the reason we want to take specific action against them for illegally detaining my client,” Mr Sifuna said.
The week also saw Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang' arrested and just like Mr Miguna, orders to have him released were also disobeyed by the police but he was later released and charged.
On Friday night, Makadara MP George Aladwa was also arrested from his Buru Buru home moved around the city before being taken to DCI headquarters and released on Saturday afternoon without any charge.
HELD
Mr Sifuna noted that while at Githunguri Police Station, “we had to escape for our lives as area politicians led locals to light bonfires outside the police station and the police never did anything to them.”
According to the law, a suspected offender is required to be held at a police station close to the area where the crime was allegedly committed.
However, it is not clear why Mr Miguna was not held in Central Police station, which covers Uhuru Park, the scene where the police claim that the crime happened.
The Constitution provides that no person shall be held in detention for more than 24 hours without being produced in court.
Mr Miguna is yet to be charged in court for what he is claimed to have committed.
WARRANT
With the police getting the notoriety of not obeying court orders, it is not clear whether Mr Miguna will be arraigned in court on Monday as ordered by the same court on Friday.
City lawyer Mr Nelson Havi said he would take action against Nairobi Chief Magistrate Kenneth Cheruiyot over the search warrants he issued to the police to break into Mr Miguna’s house.
“He has crossed the red line and will soon join Joseph Mutava. We cannot have criminals in the Judiciary,” Mr Havi said.
The order by Mr Cheruiyot read: “I authorise you, by this search warrant to enter the house of Joshua Miguna Miguna with such assistance as shall be required and to use, if necessary, reasonable force.”
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