Ugandan court gives go ahead for Sakaja’s degree to be investigated
By Nyaboga KiageThe High Court in Uganda has given the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) a go ahead to investigate the academic certificates obtained by Johnson Sakaja from Teams University in Kampala.
Teams University had initially asked the court to block the NCHE from investigating whether the politician, who is vying for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat, was, indeed a student at the institution.
A degree is among the qualification required by Mr Sakaja, who is the current Nairobi Senator, to vie for the seat of governor.
In his ruling, the Deputy registrar of the Ugandan High Court Mr Jamson Karemani said the application by Team University did not stand the waters.
“I do believe in NCHE’s submissions that indeed the investigations were stopped and at the moment there is no ongoing investigations,” said Karemani.
Mr Karemani added that NCHE had backed down the investigations following an earlier court order but already the matter was being investigated by the Inspector General of police in Uganda.
The university had gone to court and wanted NCHE to be stopped from investigating the matter on whether Mr Sakaja was once at the institution.
Justice Antony Mrima of the Kenyan High Court on Tuesday, July 12, also threw out a petition by Mr Dennis Gakuu a civilian who was challenging the validity of his degree.
Justice Mrima said that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) did not make any mistake in clearing Mr Sakaja to run for governorship.
The judge dismissed the case with costs.
Despite the challenges, Sakaja who is contesting on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket, is considered favourite, alongside Jubilee’s Polycarp Igathe to win the Nairobi county top seat.