Keriako Tobiko reopens investigations to determine if Hassan Joho’s degree is genuine

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho is back in the spotlight after the Director of Public Prosecutions ordered fresh investigations into the authenticity of his degree.

Mr Joho has been battling claims that his degree is fake and maintains that he is a graduate of Kampala University, Uganda.

He insists he presented its degree to satisfy the legal requirement before he could vie for governorship.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko ordered the Director of Criminal Investigations to reopen the investigation to ascertain whether or not Mr Joho’s degree is genuine.

Mr Tobiko said he had been petitioned by Mr Silas Otuke to reopen the matter.

In a letter to the Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Ndegwa Muhoro on Wednesday, Mr Tobiko said that although his office had terminated the case and recommended the closure of the file in September, fresh evidence had made it necessary to reopen the file.

SECURE CLEARANCE

“On November 4, 2014, Mr Otuke, director of Youth Leadership for Democratic Governance and Guidance, visited my office and tendered a letter with an accompanying dossier containing fresh and additional allegations and documents relating to the matter,” Mr Tobiko said.

“Having perused the said letter and the dossier, I am satisfied and do hereby direct that investigations into the matter be reopened and that fresh, speedy and thorough inquiry be conducted into the matter and on completion the file be submitted to this office for appropriate action.”

Last month, three High Court judges in Mombasa dismissed a petition challenging Mr Joho’s academic qualifications.

The judges ruled that the case was premature because the petitioner had not exhausted all other constitutional mechanisms to determine the validity of the degree.

The petitioner had argued that the degree Mr Joho used to secure clearance to vie for the governor’s seat was invalid.

Mr Otuke, in a letter to the DPP dated November 4, asked that parties involved in the alleged irregular award of a degree to Mr Joho be investigated and prosecuted as directed by the High Court in Mombasa.

REVEAL NOTHING NEW

But Mr Joho’s lawyer, Mr Dennis Mosota, said fresh investigations would reveal nothing new and that the facts on the basis of which the case was closed last year were still the same.

“It is, however, entirely within the discretion of the DPP to reopen the file, but we are confident that once again we will vindicate the authenticity of our client’s certificates,” Mr Mosota said.

He also argued that the ruling of a Uganda court would work in their favour as it allegedly proved that the decision by Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education, which withdrew recognition for Mr Joho’s degree, was illegal and “tainted by external pressure”.

The Uganda High Court upheld the validity of the certificate, quashing the council’s earlier decision on it.

Mr Justice Stephen Musota in Kampala declared that the decision of the National Council of Higher Education of Uganda of April 30, 2014, that purported not to recognise Mr Joho’s degree was a nullity.

The judge further issued a permanent injunction restraining the council from interfering in any way with the grant of the degree and criticised it for “giving in to external pressures” in arriving at its decision.