United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Johnson Sakaja was facing arrest on Thursday night after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said he was a suspect in an international criminal syndicate, even as Ugandan authorities were investigating his “fake” degree saga.
According to DCI boss George Kinoti on Thursday evening, Mr Sakaja and officials of Team University in Uganda, where the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate for the Nairobi gubernatorial race claims to have obtained a degree, are suspects in an international organized crime syndicate.
“We will not surrender our capital city to frauds. We will involve all international agencies in investigating and prosecuting anyone involved in academic fraud,” Mr Kinoti told the Nation.
Sakaja issued a statement on Wednesday, June 15, stating that he will not be intimidated into dropping his gubernatorial bid, even if he faces arrest.
“Not even the threats to arrest me will dim our resolve to serve the people of Nairobi. The people of Nairobi have resoundingly rejected your [President Uhuru Kenyatta’s] project and are looking forward to electing their own,” Sakaja wrote on Facebook.
But according to DCI, as quoted by Nation, they are investigating how Sakaja obtained his papers in Uganda, as well as the involvement of top officials from the institutions, in order to determine the authenticity of the degree.
According to the law, any person found guilty of forgery is liable to facing an imprisonment term of three years.
“Any person who forges any document or electronic record is guilty of an offence which unless otherwise stated, is a felony and he/she is liable unless owing to the circumstances of forgery or the nature of the thing forged some other punishment is provided, to imprisonment of three years,” Section 349 of the Penal Code stipulates.
The dramatic escalation of a row over Mr Sakaja’s eligibility to run for Nairobi governorship appears to have followed the intervention of Ugandan Education Minister Janet Museveni, who reportedly sent government officials to seek evidence of Mr Sakaja’s time at the institution.
While campaigning in Nyamira on Thursday, Deputy President William Ruto, whose UDA party has sponsored the senator’s bid for governor, lashed out at the authorities, demanding that Mr Sakaja be left alone.
“I want to tell our competitors: Leave Johnson Sakaja alone. He was born in Nairobi and he has the required academic credentials. The deep state and system are making calls all over, including to the Uganda State House, wanting to stop Sakaja from becoming the Nairobi governor,” Dr Ruto claimed.
Mr Sakaja received a temporary reprieve on Wednesday when the High Court overturned a decision by the Commission for University Education (CUE) to revoke recognition of his degree.
