Blow for Wajir governor as university disowns degree

Kampala University has disowned Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mahamud’s degree in a move that is likely to complicate his appeal pending before the Supreme Court.

In documents filed at the Supreme Court on Friday, the university said Mr Mahamud has never been admitted there and his name does not appear on the graduation list of 2012 as he alleges.

The Supreme Court had allowed Mr Mahamud to table his academic certificates, stating that he was not given a fair hearing at both the trial and the appellate court with regard to his academic qualifications.

FAIR HEARING

“It is on this breadth that we must consider whether the appellant’s right to a fair hearing and trial will be infringed upon by the denial of admission of new evidence,” the judges said.

Through lawyer Fred Ngatia, Mr Mahamud said the two courts ignored the fact that the requirement for him to strictly prove that he holds the two degrees had been waived through a consent signed by parties during the pre-trial conference.

To support his case, the Wajir governor has tabled evidence proving that he was admitted to the institution in 2009 and later graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and management studies.

MASTER'S DEGREE

He further claimed that he obtained a master’s degree from the same university and has attached a list of students who graduated with him in 2012.

But in reply to his case, former governor Ahmed Abdullahi has attached letters from the university’s academic registrar saying Mr Mahamud was never their student between 2009 and 2012.

Further, Mr Jacob Onyango Orinda, who says he worked at the institution between 2008 and 2016 as the deputy registrar and was in charge of admission of students from Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan at the university’s in-service programme, also disowned the governor’s papers.

Mr Orinda said a perusal of the admission book for all students admitted to Kampala University in 2009 does not bear the name of Mr Mahamud. He said only 196 students were admitted then.

UNIVERSITY PRACTICE

Further, Mr Orinda said it is common knowledge and university practice in Kenya and Uganda that the holder of second class (lower division) degree cannot enrol for a master’s programme without a two-year work experience.

The former Wajir boss wants the Supreme Court to strike out the affidavits filed by his rival saying they are not additional evidence but entirely new evidence.

The court directed Mr Ngatia to file affidavits and the respondents, including the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and Mr Abdullahi, to file theirs for an early hearing date to be given.