High court judge George Odunga has ordered the minister of the interior, Fred Matiang’i and the Inspector General of the Police, Joseph Boinnet to pay a fine for the contempt of court on Thursday, after failing to uphold his ruling to free opposition figure Miguna Miguna who earlier detained at the Nairobi airport by authorities, then later deported to the Dubai, U.A.E.

Judge Odunga ruled that both officials had ” conducted themselves in a most despicable manner not expected in this constitutional era” in a manner to seen before directed towards high-ranking personnel.

Minister Matiang’i and Police Chief Boinnet were fined 200,000 Kenyan shillings each for the involvement in the detention of Miguna Miguna earlier this week. The minister has already made public his intent to appeal the court’s order.

The government has long been accused of failing to respect the courts’ authority especially when it involves political matters.

Miguna, is a lawyer by profession with a dual citizenship; Canadian and Kenyan. He flew into Nairobi on Wednesday but was detained and refused entry into the country. His release was ordered by a court but he wasn’t let go. Having found out both the minister and police inspector general ignored the ruling, they were found in contempt of court.

A few hours later, Miguna was bound for Dubai on an Emirates flight according to his lawyer. The second he’s been deported this year alone. Authorities in Kenya has deported first under the pretext that he’s forfeited his Kenyan citizenship after acquiring the Canadian one.

The interior minister claims Miguna has failed in following arrival procedures when he touched down Nairobi and denied detaining him illegally.

Neba Benson,

BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst