Sakaja Handed Another Victory In Degree Saga

Nairobi Senator, Johnson Sakaja has been handed another reprieve after the High Court cleared him to vie for the county's gubernatorial seat.

Justice Antony Mrima on Tuesday, July 12 dismissed a petition that sought to disqualify him from the seat over the integrity of his academic qualifications.

Dennis Gakuu filed the petition which had wanted Sakaja locked out of the race over the validity of his degree.

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja arrives for the gubernatorial debate on July 11, 2022. /TWITTER

"The court finds IEBC did not err in clearing Sakaja to vie for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat. The upshot, therefore, is that the petition is unsuccessful and is hereby dismissed with cost," Justice Mrima ruled.

Justice Mrima had previously granted the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) the greenlight to continue printing the ballot papers. Sakaja had sought orders from the High Court to bar the IEBC from striking his name out of the list of candidates over the degree saga which drew controversy.

"Given that steps have ready been taken for an expedited hearing for this matter, hence the order shall not be issued at this point," the judge ruled.

The Commission for University Education (CUE) had dismissed the recognition of his degree from Team University, despite declaring even during the Nairobi gubernatorial debate that he had acquired it legally.

His opponent, Polycarp Igathe, had used every chance to roast Sakaja regarding the credibility of his academic papers during the debate on Monday, July 11, claiming that he toppled two other candidates to clinch the Jubilee party ticket, noting that he did not have a degree. 

"Within the party, there were two other people, the ones who were running against me within the party also did not have degrees, I beat them," he said. 

However, Sakaja responded by exposing how his opponent resigned as Deputy Governor, just six months into the job, further claiming that he could not stand by former governor Mike Sonko during his difficult times. 

"If you stuck in office Governor Sonko would not have been impeached. If you stuck in office, maybe you would be the incumbent governor. 

"This city needs resilience, you need to be tough. You cannot say you betrayed, how many votes did you say you guys got?" he posed. 

Igathe went back to the degree topic and once again questioned his academic credentials, stating that they are false 

"I'll tell you what is not integrity...is uttering false documents and then standing here and saying I have integrity," Igathe said.  

"Go to the EACC website and check what Sakaja cited as his degree in 2017... it is a public document, and then look at the degree he say is is today, we don't know who he is, is your name really Sakaja?" 

An image of Team University in Uganda. /FILE

The Ugandan judiciary had previously suspended investigations into Sakaja's Team University degree after the university had moved to court seeking orders to stop the government of Uganda from probing the matter.

On Tuesday, June 5, the High Court issued restraining orders that stopped the government from investigating the qualification awarded to Sakaja by the institution.