High Court suspends CUE's decision to revoke recognition of Sakaja's university degree

The High Court has suspended the Commission for University Education’s (CUE) decision to revoke the recognition of Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja's university degree pending hearing and determination of his case.

High Court Judge Jairus Ngaah, in his ruling, also prohibited the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from striking Sakaja from its list of candidates cleared to run for the Nairobi Governor’s seat.

Senator Sakaja had moved to court to challenge CUE’s decision to revoke recognition of his university degree, arguing that it was made unfairly and in favour of his political rivals.

The Nairobi Senator stated that the commission’s decision was rushed, adding that the matter revolving around his academic qualification to vie for the Governor race is still under investigations.

Through lawyer Elias Mutuma, Sakaja submitted that the decision by CUE to revoke recognition of his degree violates his rights to a fair administrative action and fair hearing.

"The decision by the respondent is anchored in mischief and craft political agenda whose main principal is to eliminate the applicant from the Nairobi City County Gubernatorial election...," read court papers.

Sakaja attached his degree certificate from Team University and a letter from the Executive Director informing that he enrolled for a Bachelor of Science in Management as a student in Distance Learning and graduated on October 21, 2016.

The IEBC’s Dispute Resolution Committee earlier on dismissed three complaints against Senator Sakaja for lack of prosecution after complainants failed to appear in court.

CUE on Wednesday revoked the recognition of Sakaja’s Bachelor of Science in Management Degree from Uganda’s Team University, saying it will open a probe into the validity of the papers the Senator presented before the IEBC for clearance to run.