The activists, under the umbrella of the Civil Society Reference Group on Tuesday met at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park for a protest in a bid to pile pressure on the anti-graft body, which has been investigating Mahamed’s degree whose authenticity is in doubt/KEVIN GITAU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 11 – Several right groups have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), to make public findings of the probe on NGOs Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mahamed’s degree saga, failure to which they shall seek legal redress.
The activists, under the umbrella of the Civil Society Reference Group on Tuesday met at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park for a protest in a bid to pile pressure on the anti-graft body, which has been investigating Mahamed’s degree whose authenticity is in doubt.
They waved placards with anti-Mahamed slogans while some called for his arrest.
“He has a fake degree. In fact, everything about him is fake,” one of the banners read.
The convener of the reference group Churchill Suba accused EACC of protecting the NGO Board boss by withholding the outcome of their probe, despite Egerton University allegedly confirming that he did not conclude his studies.
“EACC is the greatest obstacle in the fight against corruption and unethical practices in this country,” he asserted.
“The commission’s conduct of failing to make its finding public points into a conspiracy of silence and perhaps conflict of interest thus enabling Fazul Mahamed to continue with his wayward style of management of public affairs with even more impunity.”
He was armed with copies of a letter allegedly authored by the university, confirming that Mahamed was a student until third year, when he dropped out.
“Pursuant to Article 35 of the Constitution and Access to Information Act, we demand to be furnished with the findings of the commission’s investigations into authenticity of Fazul Mahamed’s degree certificate at the time of his appointment,” he stated.
They insisted that at the point of his recruitment, Mahamed had a fake certificate against the requirement of the constitution.
Though the main agenda of the day was about the authenticity of his degree certificate, the organizations has more to issues with Mahamed.
Among the organizations present was the Kenya Human Rights Commission, which was represented by its Deputy Executive Director Julius Malombe, who has accused Mahamed of incompetence and failing to implement the Public Benefit Originations Act.
He claimed that Mahamed had already initiated a court process against the commencement of the PBO Act which intends to streamline the sector and enhance accountability and transparency.
Mahamed was early this year grilled by EACC over the authenticity of the degree, which he used to gain employment.
It is during the questioning that he presented a copy of the alleged falsified certificate from Egerton University.
Mahamed has since dismissed the allegations saying they were as a result of his move to clean up the NGO sector in the country.
They alleged that Egerton University Registrar of Academic Affairs Prof SFO Owido confirmed that he was their student but was discontinued on academic grounds in his third year of study by the Senate.
Mahamed’s CV indicates he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 2009.
He is said to have been discontinued for failing 50 percent or more of all the credit factors taken in the ordinary exams of one academic year.
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