Sakaja now withdraws suit against commission
Nairobi gubernatorial candidate Johnson Sakaja yesterday withdrew a suit challenging the decision of the Commission for University Education (CUE) to revoke the certification of his degree certificate acquired from a Ugandan university.
When the matter came up for hearing before the Judicial Review Court yesterday, Justice Jairus Ngaah told the parties in the matter that Sakaja had filed a withdrawal notice.
Justice Ngaah, however, allowed the application, noting that there was no objection by the other parties, including the CUE, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.
“The suit is marked as withdrawn with no orders as to costs,” he stated.
The twist comes after the CUE revoked its letter invalidating the degree recognition. One week after, another court dismissed a petition to disqualify Sakaja from the gubernatorial race over validity of his papers.
Burden of proof
On July 12, Justice Anthony Mrima ruled that IEBC did not commit any mistake in clearing Sakaja. He said the petitioner, Dennis Gakuu Wahome, failed to discharge the burden of proving the senator’s Team University degree certificate was fake.
“The evidential burden shifted to the petitioner. Even by considering the evidence in the affidavit that was struck out by the tribunal, there was no evidence to support allegations levelled against Sakaja. The tribunal did not err,” judge Mrima stated.
The judge said there was no evidence Sakaja was not qualified to contest for the seat based on the documents he submitted to the election’s returning officer.
In addition, Justice Mrima said the IEBC does not have powers or mandate to verify the authenticity of documents submitted by aspirants for clearance.
Sakaja’s lawyers were Elias Mutuma and Adrian Kamotho.
Justice Mrima also put the State investigative agencies and the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) over the increasing cases of forgery adding that none of the cases filed in civil courts had succeeded.
In the withdrawn suit, Sakaja wanted the court to quash the decision of the CUE dated June 14 to revoke his degree.
He argued that the decision by the CUE was anchored on mischief and crafty political agenda whose principal objective was to eliminate him from the Nairobi City County Gubernatorial election.
“It is self-evident that the CUE are being steered by external forces in a collateral mission being waged against Sakaja. He has not been accorded a fair hearing, thus the decision is in absolute breach of the fundamental rules of natural justice,” his lawyers Elias Mutuma and Adrian Kamotho said.
He argued that the decision was illegal, biased and amounts to an unfair administration action.
“Sakaja is aggrieved by the decision of CUE because the said decision was unfairly and discriminately against him and in favor of his political rivals,” lawyer Mutuma said.
He added that the revocation was rushly undertaken without any evidence as the matter was still under investigation.
“The decision was unjustly arrived at on political and unfair grounds. Sakaja was not accorded a fair hearing nor were any substantial reasons provided as to the decision made,” said the lawyer.
While revoking the certification, the CUE chaired by Pro Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha said that it had received material information about the authenticity of Sakaja’s degree.
The commission said it required further investigations to ascertain the validity of the said degree certificate.
But Sakaja argued that on June 6, 2022, the CUE had issued a confirmation that the said degree was valid and that the same agency issued another confirmation to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) affirming the recognition of his academic qualifications.
Additionally, that the CUE had on June 6, 2022 written to him confirming the recognition of the said certificate.
“Strangely on June 14, 2022, without an iota of legality or justification, the CUE purported to revoke “the recognition” of Sakaja’s degree. It was extremely outrageous, irrational and preposterous for the CUE to purport to revoke the ‘recognition’ of the degree when admittedly they were still undertaking investigations. By all logical standards, revocation cannot precede investigation,” says lawyer Mutuma.
