University Education Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi has warned public and private universities over the expected fraudulent mass acquisition of degrees as education provisions of the Elections Act come into force in the August 2022 General Election.
Section 22 (1) (b) of the Elections Act of 2011, as amended by the 11th Parliament, provides for minimum academic qualifications for senators, members of the National Assembly and ward representatives.
It stipulates that candidates may be nominated for an election only if they are holders of a university degree recognised in Kenya.
This provision was to take effect ahead of the 2017 General Election but a further amendment was passed to postpone its adoption until the 2022 elections.
As people seeking elective seats rush to acquire the vital document, Mr Nabukwesi, while decrying the quality of education offered at some local institutions of higher learning, said the era of people acquiring degrees they had not earned has ended.
“The issue of individuals presenting fake degrees is a matter that concerns a lot,” he told the watchdog Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when he appeared before it over audit queries raised about his department for the 2018/19 financial year.
“We will take precautionary measures. We will write to the universities cautioning them against giving out fake degrees. In fact, this morning we were discussing a university professor with a fake PhD degree,” the PS told MPs, adding that “right now we are establishing our capacity to crack down on this vice”.
Mr Nabukwesi’s comments came after Gatanga MP Joseph Ngugi, a member of PAC, claimed some people are in a mad rush to acquire degrees of dubious standards so they can vie in the 2022 elections.
“There is a haste from MCAs to acquire the degrees from now and just before the election date. You need to be firm and establish the kind of courses offered in these universities so that we don’t get swamped with funny, funny degrees,” Mr Ngugi said.
Mr Nabukwesi also told the committee, which is chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, that he had directed the Kenya National Qualification Authority and the Commission for University Education to work together to ensure that people with dubious academic documents are locked out of the elections.
Several committee members, including Aden Duale (Garissa Township), Eseli Simiyu (Tongaren), Wilberforce Oundo (Funyula), Mr Wandayi and Joseph Nduati, wanted to know how prepared the government is in implementing the provisions of the Elections Act.
“Do you have the capacity to certify and authenticate certificates claimed to have been issued by universities? The elections are around the corner and if there is no capacity then Parliament must raise the red flag,” Mr Wandayi said.
Mr Duale told Mr Nabukwesi to prepare for the challenging period ahead in implementing the law, including the possibility that individuals will try to bribe “your officers on the ground” to get cleared.
“Do not listen to those people making noise outside there. The law is there for you to assist in implementing it. Otherwise you have a difficult task to correct this mess,” Mr Duale said.
Many individuals including governors, he noted, presented fake academic papers in previous elections and were cleared by the electoral commission.
“I know of a county governor who has an MBA from the University of Nairobi yet the university says it never awarded the person the degree!” Mr Duale said.
Dr Simiyu warned that acquiring fake academic papers does not improve the competence of an individual.
“I have said before that a degree is not a vaccination against the idiocy and stupidity of an individual. This has come to pass. You need to clean the system,” Dr Simiyu challenged the PS.
But the law has its critics. Some of them have sponsored court cases or filed petitions in Parliament to block its adoption or have it amended on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the government has formulated a Cabinet memo to discuss the quality of education offered at universities.
Mr Nabukwesi, during his appearance before PAC yesterday, said the document will be sent to Parliament for debate in the coming days.
“There are some universities that are very local. They admit students from their localities and do things that no one understands,” he said.
“We want universities that offer education that is of the right standards and must reflect the country positively, both locally and abroad.”
The hiring of lecturers who have degrees not recognised in Kenya has worsened education standards, he said.
He told Mr Nabukwesi that Presbyterian University, a local private entity, is among institutions whose education quality is doubtful.
“Are you satisfied that the students are getting quality education at the universities or it’s just a case of sitting and waiting to be awarded degrees? What is the ministry doing to stop the churning out of degrees that mean nothing?” he posed.
Mr Nabukwesi agreed with Dr Simiyu, acknowledging that the government is “seriously” concerned about the quality of education.
Dr Simiyu told the committee that three students from his constituency who were in their second year at Presbyterian University had approached him and complained about the quality of education at the institution.
The students, he said, told him that they were ready to drop their university courses and seek admission to the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), a request that Dr Simiyu acceded to.
“The students told me that they hardly go to class and if they do, the lecturers don’t appear,” he said.
Dr Simiyu also cited a graduate student from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) whom he had helped secure a job but who ended up blowing up a machine.
“When I followed up the matter, I established that the student had actually graduated from JKUAT. I was told that what he did was so basic that not even a diploma or certificate student under the programme could do that,” he said, adding that “we have really diluted our standards of education”.
