10 to take a plea after learning that the petitioner’s issue was live before the High Court in Nairobi. The petitioner was to be taken to the High Court in Nairobi but was instead taken to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, held in the toilets and deported to Canada. Representatives of the petitioner filed the instant suit in which they claimed that the petitioner was a citizen of Kenya by birth and that could not be cancelled under the repealed Constitution and under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. They argued that the petitioner had enjoyed many rights of a citizen since he changed his citizenship from Kenyan to Canadian. Representatives of the petitioner filed the instant suit in which they claimed that the petitioner was a citizen of Kenya by birth and that could not be cancelled under the repealed Constitution and under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. To demonstrate how the petitioner could not to be said to have lost his citizenship by birth, the petitioners legal representatives argued that even though the petitioner changed his citizenship from Kenyan to Canadian, the petitioner had enjoyed many rights of a Kenyan Citizen, including but not limited to vying for public office. The representatives also argued that the petitioner was not accorded due process, he was deported without being presented to a court of law. As such they argued that the deportation was a violation of fair administrative action. To this end they argued that the petitioner lived in Canada until sometime in 2007 when he returned to Kenya, renewed his Kenyan Identity Card and acquired a Kenyan passport both of which showed that he was born a citizen of Kenya. He was even admitted as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a profession reserved for citizens of Kenya and those from the East African Community only. In the coalition government formed after the 2007 general elections, the petitioner served as a senior adviser in the Prime Minister’s office. In 2013 and 2017, the petitioner had unsuccessfully ran for public office. Running for public office were preserves of Kenyan citizens and as such the petitioners argued that the petitioner was a citizen as evidenced by how the State had recognized him as in the capacities demonstrated above. The respondent’s submissions The respondents argued that the deportation was justified on the grounds that the petitioner had lost his citizenship under the repealed Constitution when he acquired a Canadian passport. Under the repealed Constitution, one could not be a dual citizen. They argued that the petitioner had to apply for citizenship afresh. The respondents also argued that the petitioner was a prohibited immigrant as he was the leader of an organization that was declared illegal, the National Resistance Movement. Key Issues for Determination The main issue was whether a person who had acquired citizenship by birth could lose the citizenship by acquiring the passport of a foreign country under the repealed constitution and under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. The court also had to decide on whether the petitioner was accorded due process as envisaged under the right to fair administrative action. CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY RIGHTS CASE DIGEST