AfricaPress-Kenya: Taita Governor Granton Samboja has received a reprieve after a court ruling on Thursday, March 11, dismissed a case in which he is accused by the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) of presenting fake academic papers.
Justice James Makau of the Nairobi Milimani Law courts told EACC that they should have filed the suit before an electoral court and not a constitutional court.
Initially, Samboja was on the spot after Kenyatta University denied that the governor schooled at the institution after Samboja claimed that he had graduated from the university with a Human Resource degree in 2009.
Samboja claimed that he enrolled for a certificate course in KU under the distant learning programme before pursuing a diploma at the same university in 2003.
KU, however, through a statement by Vice-Chancellor Paul Wainaina dismissed Samboja’s claims.
“This is to inform you that there are no records in the university to indicate that Granton Samboja of ID number 1254***1 was a student of Kenyatta University and graduated with a Bachelors degree in 2009.
“From the above, therefore, Mr Granton Graham Samboja was not a student of Kenyatta University during the period referred in your letter,” part of the letter read.
However, Samboja in previous interviews has maintained that he studied in the institution before he was employed as a director at Mediamax company.
The news comes as Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua poked holes in Wiper Candidate Agnes Kavindu’s academic papers.
Mutua questioned how the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) approved her to vie after reports emerged that she never sat for her KCSE examinations.
However, Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo came to Kavindu’s defense adding that she is qualified to vie for the Machakos senatorial seat.
Recently, the government confirmed its stance regarding holders of fake academic papers. This is after the latest report released by the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) showed that one in every three Kenyans holds fake academic papers.
Among the measures the government is instituting is the adoption of the National Qualification Information Management System (NQIMS) which will be a one-stop database of all qualifications from the basic, TVET and university sectors.
This, the authority states will help in weeding out fake and fraudulent qualifications in the country.
