For the past two weeks, the self-proclaimed general of National Resistance Movement (NRM) Miguna Miguna must have had nostalgic memories of his University days. The events that have surrounded his arrest and deportation is reminiscence of the events that happened when he was a student at the University of Nairobi.
In 2011, Miguna Miguna was sacked as a legal advisor to the then Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Before the sacking, Miguna Miguna was the one of the closest friends to Raila Odinga. He used to shower the former Prime minister with praise full of flowery language. After the sacking, he made a turn-around and spewed expletives at his former boss.
What would later bring him in the public limelight is the publication of his controversial book, “Peeling Back the Mask: A quest for justice.” In his book, Miguna Miguna exposed the under dealings in the Prime minister’s office and accused him of being drunk among many other grave allegations.
It is also in this book that Miguna Miguna narrates his life story. How he struggled through primary and secondary school at Onjiko Boys High school in Ahero, Kisumu County. He writes that poverty propelled him to study hard in school so that in future he can pull his family out of the mud of poverty.After high school, Miguna Miguna joined the National Youth Service (NYS) and later University of Nairobi.
At the University, Miguna Miguna became a student’s activist. He writes that he used to address students’ gatherings and advocate for students’ welfare.One time, the police ambushed the University to arrest rioting students. Miguna Miguna was in his room at the University hall of residence. He narrates that when the police knocked on his door, he hid himself under the bed. The police officers broke the door and dragged him from under the bed with kicks and slaps. He was arrested and taken to the police station and later to the Nyayo chambers.
On his release, he and other student leaders were literally smuggled into Tanzania where they awaited their deportation to Canada where he would later register and become a citizen.
More than two decades later, Miguna Miguna would re-live this harrowing experience. This was after he was ambushed at his Runda home on 2nd February 2018, a few days after the swearing-in of NASA principal Raila Odinga as the people’s president. A few days after his arrest, he was deported to Canada where he is right now. History repeats itself.