ODM Party Executive Director Oduor Ongwen was on Saturday stopped at the JKIA as he tried traveling out of the country. Taking to Twitter on Sunday night, Dr. Ongwen said officials at the facility cited his role in organizing the January 30th, 2018 oath-taking ceremony where Raila Odinga was sworn in as the People’s president.
”I have been stopped from travelling out of the country because my passport was suspended in 2018 for my role in organizing the swearing in of @RailaOdinga and People’s Assembly. I’m more bemused than annoyed,”’ the ODM Executive Director tweeted.
In November 2018, a High Court ruling in a treason charge involving Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang said the January 2018 event was not illegal and that no Kenyan should be arrested or prosecuted for it.
Apart from MP Kajwang, exiled lawyer Dr. Miguna Miguna also played a critical role in administering the oath, an action that led to his deportation in Canada in April 2018.
”From the content of the oath, Hon Raila Odinga swore himself to the office of the people’s president which does not amount to any crime. He would have only breached the law if he swore himself as the president of the Republic of Kenya,” the November 2018 ruling reads in part.
The ODM leader on January 30th, 2018 was inaugurated the symbolic ceremony after boycotting presidential re-run in October the previous year.