Politics of fake academic certificates and successive regimes

After every regime change in Kenya, several elected leaders are taken to court and charged with several counts of forging academic certificates.

All the charged politicians have one thing in common. They are arrested after falling out with the government and turning into harsh critics.   Their incessant  caustic remarks rub the administrations the wrong way. In reiteration, the politicians are arrested and charged in connection with forging and presenting fake academic papers and are now kept busy in court to battle for their political lifeline.

The prosecution of Juja MP George Koimburi earlier this week over a forgery he is purported to have orchestrated more than 30 years ago revived memories of the politicians who have found themselves in similar predicaments in the past.

They include Oscar Sudi (Kapsaret) Governor Johnson Sakaja, Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho, Clement Waibara (EX-Gatundu North MP) Ex- governors Mohamed Abdi (Wajir) Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu) Granton Samboja (Taita Taveta) Bishop Margret Wanjiru of Jesus Is Alive Ministries, former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary  Mithika Linturi was also one of the leaders who had to defend his academic credentials.

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While some of the leaders have since won the petitions, others are still in court fighting for their integrity. In some cases, it is their opponents who lodge petitions in court to have their election win overturned for them to get a free pass to vie and hopefully gain the prestige that comes along with the political power.

However, whether politicians who engage in rigorous court processes to clear their names out of the public ridicule over falsified credentials are subjects of weaponization of state agencies or not,  one question arises; could some of them be academic frauds?

In all the cases, the charges are more or less the same. In Koimburi’s case, he was charged with three counts of forging academic certificates and an additional three counts of uttering false documents.

According to Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Everlyn Onunga, Koimburi in 1994, deliberately forged a Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) certificate.

“Between the months of November and December 1994, at an unknown time and place within the Republic of Kenya, with intent to deceive, he forged a Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) certificate, namely a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Certificate, Serial No. 2015684, purporting it to be genuine and duly signed by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC),” reads part of the charge sheet.

On the second count, the legislator was accused of forging a university project from the Kiambu-based Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) between September 2011 and April 2012, with the contested project listed as the African Universities Accession Project, Serial Number JKU/KENET/EI/2011-2012.

He was also charged with forging a JKUAT academic excellence certificate from the School of Human Resource Development, purporting that it had been issued by the university between September 2011 and April 2012 while on the fourth count, he was accused of submitting a forged KNEC certificate to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on March 8, 2021, purporting that the document was genuine and duly signed by the issuer.

Prior to his arrest, Koimburi had allegedly claimed that President William Ruto used public funds to bribe other African Heads of State to support Raila Odinga’s bid for the AUC chairmanship. He made the remarks on January 16 at PCEA Juja farm with the DCI first hinting that they intended to charge him under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act No. 5 of 2018 and the Penal Code before dropping the charges to forgery.

 Oscar Sudi, a close ally of President William Ruto was charged in October 2016 with three counts of forging academic certificates while seeking clearance from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to contest the March 4, 2013 general election.

The prosecution claimed the MP forged his diploma in business management allegedly issued by the Kenya Institute of Management as well as a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education qualification reportedly issued by Highway High School.

By then, Sudi had become former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s harsh critic after he (Uhuru) fell out with Ruto.

Witnesses John Matseshe the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) and Nabiki Kashu Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) disowned Sudi’s certificates as forgeries and non-existent in their databases.

“I can confirm that the certificate registered under the name of Sudi Oscar Kipchumba was not a genuine document from Kenya Institute of Management. He may not have been a student in our institution and did not sit any examination,” Matsheshe said even after Kashu disowned his KCSE certificate.

Last year, Sudi was acquitted with Magistrate Felix Kombo saying the state failed to establish a strong case against him to warrant him being placed on his defense. He said failure to produce and prove the documents means the charge can't stand.

In some instances, however, some leaders have lost their elective positions after the courts nullified their election. In 2018, former Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi lost his seat after his predecessor Ahmed Abdullah petitioned the court on grounds that he had failed to produce original academic forms which meant that he was not validly cleared to vie for the seat of Governor for Wajir County as he did not possess the educational qualifications.

High Court Judge Alfred Mabeya also slapped Abdi with a Sh2 million cost saying “Abdi was not validly elected to the position of Governor and his election hereby declared null and void,” said Mabeya in his ruling.

In August 2011, former Gatundu North MP Clement Waibara lost his seat over poll irregularities. The ex-MP was also facing claims that he did not possess sufficient proficiency in English and Kiswahili languages.

Other leaders who have been forced to defend their academic qualifications include Machakos Senator Agnes Kavindu.

The senator in 2022 was in court to prove that she went to school and although the judge dismissed the case because the university degree was not a requirement, she failed to prove that she had a post-secondary academic qualification.

Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo also sued Waititu over claims that he never went to Punjab university and that he never acquired primary and secondary education.  

 Nairobi governor Johnstone Sakaja found himself in court explaining that he had gone to school when he was a Senator in Nairobi.  However the High court saved him after Justice Anthony Mrima found that there was no proof that Sakaja had forged his degree from Team University in Uganda.

According to the judge, it was not for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to decide if Sakaja had genuine documents or not.

The judge affirmed the IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee’s verdict that Dennis Wahome had not made a case to warrant the senator from being locked out of the Nairobi governorship contest.

 “There is no duty for the IEBC to verify the authenticity of the academic documents. IEBC does not have forensic tools to conduct such an analysis. The manner in which the complaint was presented and the quality of the evidence tendered by the petitioner will not create an inference of the criminal allegation made such that even if the respondent did not appear in the matter, the evidence would not stand,” said Justice Mrima.

In 2013, Bishop Margret Wanjiru of Jesus Is Alive Ministries (JIAM) was barred from contesting the Nairobi gubernatorial seat in 2013 because she didn’t have a degree, not even in theology.

Her PhD was awarded before her Bachelors and the Commission for Higher Education rejected her educational qualifications in 2013 after revelations that she received the degree of Doctor of Theology from Vineyard Harvester Bible College on July 13, 2003 and later in October 26, 2010, received a Bachelor’s degree in Christian Leadership from United Graduate College and Seminary International.

The Bishop later graduated with a BA degree in leadership and management from St Paul’s University in 2014.

 Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in April last year, claimed that he had a list of senior officials within the government holding fake papers claiming he got the list from individuals from River road who helped the officials obtain the certificates.

“Im not really concerned about the issue of papers because I don’t want to go the River Road route, I’m comfortable with the little education I have. I have been complaining that I'm lonely at the top because my boss has three degrees, the comptroller of the state house has three yet I have one so these River Road people have been looking for me,” he claimed.