NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 17 – The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has commenced a probe into the authenticity of Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja’s University degree certificate.
DCI boss Director George Kinoti who is currently on an official visit to France in his capacity as Interpol Executive Committee member confirmed to Capital FM News that the agency had opened investigations into Sakaja’s credentials adding that they are yet to complete the investigations into the issue.
Kinoti’s statement comes hours after the investigative agency linked Sakaja to an international criminal syndicate over the degree saga that is now threatening to bury the dreams of the ‘Super Senator’ to ascend into the Nairobi gubernatorial seat.
Even as controversy continues to surround, the authenticity of Sakaja degree issue, the Nairobi gubernatorial contender has blamed his woes on ‘state machinery’ including President Uhuru Kenyatta whom Sakaja says is out to frustrate his bid.
However, Sakaja has since maintained that he will be on the ballot for the gubernatorial race in August despite the controversy on his degree qualification.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Sakaja maintained that his degree from Team University is valid and described what he termed as the “purported revocation of my credentials by the Commission for University Education (CUE) chairman as null and void, and politically instigated.”
He also accused the Commission’s chairman of being coerced and intimidated to illegally revoke recognition of accreditation that has been properly issued.
“On June 6, I presented my qualifications to the CUE for recognition. The commission conducted due diligence by first writing to their counterpart in Uganda, National Council for Higher Education, which in turn wrote to the university,” he said.
He stated that the commission confirmed the authenticity of the qualification from Team University through the National Council for Higher Education and thus recognized my qualifications.
“These are the documents that the Nairobi County Returning Officer used to clear me as per the law. Following this, President Uhuru Kenyatta and the entire State machinery have gone on an intimidation spree against institutions locally and in Uganda to revoke the recognition of my qualifications in a bid to stop me from being the Governor of Nairobi,” he stated.
On Wednesday, Sakaja got a reprieve after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) dismissed the Commission for University Education (CUE) letter that had revoked the recognition of his degree certificate.
The Commission’s Dispute Resolution Committee in its ruling held that the validity of Sakaja’s degree should be maintained pending the hearing of a substantive motion.
While the status quo remains, the electoral body was “prohibited from striking Sakaja’s name from the list of cleared gubernatorial candidates for the Nairobi County seat”.
The ruling came as a relief to the Nairobi Senator who has sets his sights to succeeding the incumbent city Governor Ann Kananu in the August polls.
Three complaints which were lodged against Sakaja challenging the validity of his university credentials were also dismissed.
The Dispute Tribunal threw out the petitions after the three complainants who filed the petitions failed to appear before the panel.
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