Uganda Begins Probe Into Sakaja's Team University Degree

According to a Ugandan newspaper, New Vision, the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) reportedly stated that they will release their conclusions after the investigations were over.

"Let us finalize our investigations and everyone will know. We cannot share anything now until the investigations are complete," said NCHE Executive Director Prof Mary Okweakol, adding that they are at an advanced stage in the probe.

This comes after Uganda's Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni received a letter from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) requesting that her administration looks into the validity of Sakaja's academic credentials.

The DCI started an inquiry into the legitimacy of the degree after having a suspicion that the degree certificate might have been granted unlawfully.

A letter revoking Sakaja's degree certificate's validity was withdrawn last week by Kenya's Commission for University Education (CUE) following a filing of contempt of court complaint from Sakaja charging it with neglecting to retract the letter.

At first, CUE had insisted that Sakaja produce his Team University student ID card, admission letter, copy of the graduating list, graduation photo, and any other documentation that would attest to his attendance at classes and graduation from the institution.

A former Team University student reportedly refuted Sakaja's graduation with the class of 2016, saying that only six students had graduated and the Senator was not one of them, according to New Vision.

"We didn't have online studies at the time and when we graduated in October 21, 2016, we were only six students. I know them because we are classmates," noted the student.

Sakaja had stated that he earned a Bachelor of Science in Management from the aforementioned University in 2016 but the university has not yet responded to inquiries regarding the incident.

The Commission for University Education (CUE) had already withdrawn the recognition of Sakaja's degree and had made a commitment to launch an investigation into the reliability of the documents Sakaja had submitted to the IEBC for approval to run.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was forbidden from removing Sakaja from its list of approved candidates for the Nairobi Governor's seat, and the High Court temporarily halted the revocation.

Since then, Sakaja has received permission from the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to compete for Nairobi governor as a member of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.

A voter filed a new plea on Tuesday asking the High Court in Milimani to prevent the IEBC from printing ballots for the Nairobi mayoral election until the case is resolved claiming that the Team University degree certificate is a forgery.