Over the past week, Kenya has experienced a political firestorm from the moment Deputy President William Ruto was barred from travelling to Uganda over clearance differences with the state.
Details later unravelled about Turkish businessman Aydin Harun who was scheduled to travel with the DP reportedly for a special investment project.
When the tycoon returned on Saturday, August 7, he was detained by Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) before he left the country in unclear circumstances aboard a Turkish flight to Istanbul.
His lawyers argued that he had been unceremoniously deported due to his association with the DP but other reports claimed that he boarded the plane voluntarily.
As the hullabaloo played on, Kenyans.co.ke turned its case towards past deportations involving tycoons and mercenaries that rattled political circles of Kenya as well as their host countries.
1. Artur Brothers
In 2006, two Armenian brothers identified as Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargsyan were quickly bundled on a Dubai-bound plane after being involved in an assault incident at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
A report by Nation at the time indicated that the two had assaulted a customs officer at the airport in an incident in which guns were involved.
After the incident, their home in Runda was raided and a number of guns found as well as ammunition and balaclava helmets.
After the incident, the two, alongside their accomplices were declared persona non grata and banished from ever setting foot in Kenya.
"The government has declared their continued presence in the country undesirable and ordered their immediate deportation," a police statement indicated at the time.
2. Jerome Corsi
Arguably the result of poor judgement, author Jerome Corsi was deported from Kenya in 2008 as he was planning to launch an anti-Barrack Obama book he had written.
In the book, Corsi made a false claim that Obama had been raised as a Muslim. He had been scheduled to launch the book on the same day he was deported.
His publicist, at the time, told Reuters that the author was deported because Kenya did not want the book, which was largely defaming former President Barack Obama, launched in the country.
"His papers were found to be in order. His passport was fine, his visa was fine. But the government did not want him to launch his book on Kenyan soil. That's why he has been deported," stated the publicist identified as Peter Mbae.
3. Abdullah Ocalan
Prior to his arrest and subsequent deportation from Kenya in February 1999, Abdullah Ocalan had been on the run for four months.
Ocalan was born in 1948, and at the time of capture, he was the leader of Kurdistan Workers (PKK) - a local equivalent would be the Francis Atwoli-led Workers Union.
In addition to agitating for lower-tier worker's welfare laws, PKK had a left-wing Kurdish militant wing seen as the liberator of Kurds in their quest for sovereignty from Turkey.
Ocalan had, at the time, been the most wanted Turk after he was accused of leading a group that was blamed for the deaths of an estimated 30,000 people for the 14 years the group sought to create a Kurdish territory in the Southern part of Turkey.
After his arrest, he was blindfolded and handcuffed before being flown to his home country. After his arrest, there was a violent clique of Kurdish protestors who targeted Kenya's foreign missions abroad.
In some instances, the crowds were so angry that the Kenyan national flag was desecrated and burnt.
4. Sheikh al-Faisal
A rather notorious figure, Sheikh al-Faisal was deported from Kenya in 2010 in a rather disturbing turn of events.
The controversial cleric had arrived into the country through Tanzania as part of a lecture tour in what reports claimed that he was inciting Muslims to be violent against non-believers,
He had been to Nigeria, Angola, Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.
On the fateful day, Anti-Terrorist Police Unit (ATPU) arrested him while he was leaving the evening prayers from a Mosque in Mombasa. He was later deported to Jamaica through Gambia.
Sheikh had already served a 7-year term in Britain for his extremist teachings. He was declared a persona non grata by Kenyan authorities.
5. Anthony Chinedu
In June 2013, Nigerian businessman Anthony Chinedu grabbed the attention of Kenyan press after he was deported over controversial dealings.
The businessman was among five Nigerians who had been accused of being in the country illegally and were arrested after a night operation at their house in Nairobi.
Chinedu in particular had been accused of running illegal drug syndicate and had earlier been arrested after being found in possession of 10 grammes of heroin.
A diplomatic tiff ensued after Nigeria detained the plane that had been used to deport Chinedu. Kenyan police and state officials and the crew were also caught in the melee.
The 11 Kenyans, who had been held, spent more than a week before they were returned in Nairobi aboard a chartered plane.
So consequential was the deportation that during the wedding of DP Ruto's daughter, June, the DP joked that it was difficult giving away his daughter to a Nigerian suitor after the deportation saga.
“It is both an exciting and anxious moment. It is not easy as a parent to give away your daughter. It is much more difficult if you are giving away your daughter to Nigerians.
"When I first met Alex I told him a story of a guy called Chinedu who gave us a lot of trouble and I was told that man was an Igbo. So you can understand…this Chinedu fellow gave us so much trouble that we deported him to Nigeria and when we deported him he refused to get out of the aeroplane in Lagos for two days. Even after leaving him there, we found him in Kenya," stated the DP.
6. Nnamdi Kanu
At the beginning of July 2021, Kenya dominated international headlines over its controversial role in the arrest and deportation of Nigerian activist Nnamdi Okwu Kanu.
Kanu was wanted by Nigerian authorities for leading an outlawed group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which calls for the creation of an independent Biafra state in Southern Nigeria.
While in exile, he established a home in Nairobi's Kileleshwa estate where he lived until Kenyan authorities allegedly arrested him and handed him to the Nigerian government in unclear circumstances.
Speaking to his lawyer, Kanu noted that he was initially arrested on suspicion of being a Nigerian terrorist connected to Al Shabaab.
He further disclosed that he was chained to the bare floor for eight days and was held incommunicado. Kanu told his lawyer that he was later flown back to the West African country as the lone passenger in a private jet bypassing all security checks at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
