Team University moves to Kampala court to stop Sakaja degree probe
The saga surrounding the academic qualifications of Nairobi senator Johnson Sakaja has taken a new twist after Team University, the institution the lawmaker claims to have gotten a degree from, filed an injunction seeking to stop the Ugandan government from investigating the matter.
The Kampala-based university, which is already under investigation by the Ugandan Council for Higher Education (NCHE) has filed two cases at the High Court in Kampala that will be heard on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Sakaja, who is seeking to run for governor in Nairobi is currently under investigation on suspicion of forging his degree.
He is also defending himself at the High Court in the Kenyan capital after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) Dispute Resolutions Committee declined to strike him off the race after the legality of his degree was questioned.
This is after the Commission for University Education (CUE) withdrew an earlier recognition it had given to the degree that Sakaja had presented for approval in order to be allowed to run for governor.
The Nairobi senator is vying on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket
And now in Kampala, Team University has asked Justice Jamson Karemani of the High Court in Kampala to issue a restraining order stopping the NCHE from investigating the degree it claims to have awarded the senator.
“A temporary injunction be issued restraining the respondent from investigating, inquiring into or in any other way interfering with the qualifications awarded to the applicant,” says the cause list on the Judiciary’s website in Uganda on the cases set to be heard today.
Interestingly NCHE had already washed its hands of the matter in order to allow the Inspectorate of Government (IG) to complete its own probe.
Mr Sakaja claims to have studied for and received a Bachelor of Science in Management (external) from Team University in 2016.
“NCHE commenced investigations in order to determine the authenticity of the Bachelor of Science in Management (External) degree awarded to Sakaja Johnson Arthur by Team University. However, prior to completing our investigations, the IG also commenced investigations into the same matter hence suspending our action,” NCHE executive director Prof Mary Okwakol in a letter to Kenya’s CUE.
On Monday, the senator who has all along claimed he studied actuarial science at the University of Nairobi said that the voter seeking his disqualification from the governor race just wants to subject him to public humiliation.
“He (the petitioner) is placing unreasonable restrictions against my candidature through the institution of frivolous suits both at the IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee and in this very instant petition,” Mr Sakaja told the court.
Both cases are set to be heard today in Kampala and in Nairobi.