Sakaja gets court reprieve blocking CUE from revoking his Ugandan degree
Nominated Member of Parliament Johnson Sakaja at his home in Nairobi on January 22, 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja moved to the High Court to challenge the adverse action by Commission for University Education (CUE) revoking its previous recognition of a degree certificate he had presented for clearance to run for Nairobi governor.
The court granted him temporary reprieve maintaining the validity of his degree's recognition, pending further directions.
"Let the People Decide. We shall be on the ballot," Mr Sakaja tweeted after the orders were granted by the Milimani court.
Yesterday, Mr Sakaja accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of influencing the revocation of his credentials by the Commission for University Education(CUE).
He said the action is illegal, null and void and was politically instigated to halt his bid to become Nairobi’s next governor.
Mr Sakaja was once an ally and sworn defender or President Kenyatta; he served as the chairman of TNA, on which the president ran and won the presidency in 2013.
In a Facebook post, the senator attempted to assure his supporters that come what may, his name will be on the ballot on August 9.
“The purported revocation of my credentials by the CUE Chairman is null and void, and politically instigated. The Chairman, Professor Chacha Nyaigotti Chacha, has been coerced and intimidated by President Uhuru Kenyatta to illegally revoke recognition of accreditation that has been properly issued,” he said.
He went on to explain that the CUE had done its due diligence before authenticating his degree certificate, and that the Nairobi County returning officer had used the same document to clear him to run.
On June 6, wrote Mr Sakaja, he presented his qualifications to the CUE to ascertain the accreditation status of Team University in Uganda, from which he allegedly obtained his bachelor of science degree in management.
A letter from the university’s academic registrar had confirmed that Mr Sakaja indeed enrolled for that distance learning degree course and graduated on October 21, 2016.
This was confirmed by Prof Mwenda Ntarangwi, CUE’s chief executive.
