Omtatah gets fresh orders in case over Governor Samboja's academic papers

The High Court has directed rights activist Okiya Omtatah to furnish Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja with the court documents of a case challenging the legitimacy of his academic papers.

According to directions issued by Justice James Makau, the activist has five days to serve Mr Samboja, Kenyatta University and the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) with the documents.

The governor, the university and the EACC will then file their responses within 15 days.

Mr Samboja is the main respondent while the anti-graft agency and the university are listed as interested parties in the fresh case that will be heard by justice Anthony Mrima. It will be mentioned on April for confirmation of compliance with the directions.

The activist lodged the case early this week, a few days after the High Court dismissed a similar petition by the EACC.

Orders sought

Mr Omtatah wants the court to issue orders quashing Governor Samboja's academic credentials.

In his court papers, he says after perusing the dismissed case , he learned that though Mr Samboja was cleared by the polls agency to vie for the gubernatorial seat, the EACC had flagged his academic documents as falsified.

The activist says that in a report forwarded on May 30, 2017 to the chair of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC, on the integrity of candidates seeking elective positions in the 2017 General Election, the EACC stated that Mr Samboja had falsified a diploma certificate, a degree certificate and a KCSE result slip.

He claims the EACC also stated that the politician presented forged certificates for enrolment to a master’s programme at Kenyatta University.

"It is also in the court's record that during investigations into the matter, Kenyatta University informed the EACC that Mr Samboja was not a student of Kenyatta University for his undergraduate studies. The impugned certificates were fakes," the activist says in the case.

Dismissed unheard

Mr Omtatah is of the view that the petition lodged by EACC was dismissed unheard because the court determined that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain an election dispute hence, the same cannot be invoked to bar his matter.

"It is necessary that this court intervenes in this dispute immediately and lays down the law to ensure that the integrity and dignity of Kenyatta University and its certifications and awards are protected," he says.

"Unless the application is urgently heard and determined, the petitioner and the people of Kenya will continue suffering great loss as the Constitution continues to be violated."

He wants the court to declare Mr Samboja's Bachelor of Commerce (Human Resource Management) Degree (Second Class Honours Upper Division), allegedly awarded by Kenyatta University in 2009, as fake.

Also to be quashed, if the petition succeeds, is the governor's Human Resource Management Diploma (Credit), allegedly awarded by the same learning institution in 2005, and a Certificate in Project Management (Pass) allegedly awarded in 2002.

"The fake certifications were intentionally made to misrepresent Granton Graham Samboja’s educational achievements and to deceive the unsuspecting public to advance his employment opportunities," the activist claims while while explaining that he moved to court believing that fake academic certifications put Kenya's wellbeing in danger.

"This threat is immediate, and immense, for the present as well as the future," he says in the petition.

"The falsification of university certificates, diplomas, and degrees is particularly destructive as, at this level, academics are supposed to represent the elite in specific disciplines, who are entrusted with leading society toward development, progress and growth in all walks of life."

Fair competition

The activist argues that fake academic certifications destroy the present and the future by undermining all meanings of competency, diligence, merit and fair competition.

In his case, Mr Omtatah is relying to a letter by EACC Deputy Secretary Micheal Mubea to Kenyatta University, requesting documents and the response of the university's Vice-Chancellor Paul Wainaina.

Prof Wainaina told the EACC that there were no records in the university to indicate Mr Samboja was a student there and that he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2009.

The activist is also relying on the EACC's report to the IEBC, on the integrity of candidates for the 2017 elections, in which the commission stated that investigations established that Mr Samboja does not have a degree certificate and is culpable of falsification.

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