Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho is likely to face another battle over his academic credentials, with highly-placed sources saying a fresh court case is to be filed against him for claiming he obtained a degree from Kampala University in Uganda.
In 2013 the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) set up a committee to probe Bachelor of Business Administration degree awarded to Joho and after its findings, the committee instructed the higher education regulatory body not to recognise the degree awarded to the governor on February 28, 2013.
The committee also recommended that an investigation be carried out on all students who graduated at the same university on the same day.
“NCHE should carry out an investigation into the processes from admission to graduation of all the students who graduated on February 28, 2013, with the Bachelor of Business Administration degree of Kampala University,” reads part of the report.
However, according to the sources, Joho, who at the time was contesting for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat, allegedly manipulated a top executive at National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and a Minister of Education who has since then been dropped, to influence the NCHE to clear him against the allegations of forging academic documents.
The sources told EagleOnline that before the earlier case was determined in Joho’s favour, the said minister and the NCHE top executive travelled to Mombasa with Joho’s brother and their Kenyan lawyer Denis Mosota, where a meeting was held and the parties agreed on how punch holes in the Governor’s prosecution.
Further, the sources said the two Ugandan senior officials travelled to the United States at the same time with Joho, where it is alleged they received money to thwart any negative attempts made against Joho.
“Upon return the top NCHE executive swore an affidavit in court in favour of Joho and the university, while the minister wrote a letter clearing the university,” the sources said.
Background
In 2013, a committee was set up after a special meeting of the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Committee of the NCHE to authenticate a degree awarded by a Kampala University to Joho and the committee recommended that the award be withdrawn.
Mr Joho had been accused by political his rivals for having faked his academic credentials before the general elections in Kenya in 2012, that saw him become Governor. The Governor had apparently received a certificate that showed that he earned a Second Class Upper division degree.
When the High Court in Nairobi cleared Mr Joho to contest, his rivals took the case to a Mombasa court, insisting that his degree was fake.
In a February 2013 report to government and NCHE, the Director Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID), Ms Grace Akullo, said NCHE should analyse the assembled evidence to enable it form an opinion as to whether Mr Joho passed through the due process to attain a Bachelor of Business Administration degree of Kampala University. She faulted both the NCHE and Kampala University for failing to provide all the required information.
However, Mr Joho filed a case in Kampala challenging the authority of the NCHE to withdraw his degree. Justice Stephen Kavuma of the Constitutional Court issued an interim order on April 22, 2013 stopping any proceedings as far as the Joho saga was concerned, pending determination of the case.
Joho is currently being investigated in Kenya over another academic forgery case where experts have taken samples of his handwriting and signature to ascertain those ones where he is allegedly involved. However, according to media reports, Joho said he is not afraid even after he saw charge sheets bearing his name during the interrogation. The experts will analyse the samples against hand-written sections of a document police allege was a forgery Joho used to gain admission to the University of Nairobi.
Joho has denied forging the document and also being the owner of a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate and results result slip showing a Mr Ali Hassan graduating with a grade C+ in 1992 at Serani Secondary School in Mombasa.
Documents leaked from the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), in a confidential communication with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) dated January 26 this year, states the certificate is a forgery. However, Joho said he scored a Grade D- in KCSE in 1993 at Serani Secondary and denied any links with the 1992 document.
Recently, Serani Secondary School principal Abbas Ulaya said a candidate by the name Hassan Ali sat KCSE at the school in 1993.
