Two Jailed For Forging Academic Certificates As Team University Moves to Stop Sakaja Degree Probe
Two public servants have been sentenced for alleged academic document forgery and ordered to repay all salaries earned with the forged certificates.
Pauline Otieno and Lilian Ochieng worked as Supplies Assistants for the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation in 2018.
Ms Otieno was convicted and sentenced to two years and six months in prison or a Ksh.228,698 fine, while Ms Ochieng was sentenced to three years and six months in prison or a Ksh.271,901 fine.
The pair was charged with five counts of crimes, including forgery and deception, according to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
“They faced the following criminal charges; forgery, providing false information to a public entity, deceiving a public entity, uttering a false document and fraudulent acquisition of public property being the cumulative salary earned on forged certificates,” read a statement by EACC.
Ms Otieno is accused of forging a procurement certificate from Mount Kenya University (MKU), while Ms Ochieng is accused of forging both a diploma and a certificate from the Kenya Institute of Management (KISM).
Prior to formal employment, the pair had worked as casual employees for the corporation for eight years before forging the documents for their promotion to Supplies Assistants.
Team University Moves to Stop Sakaja Degree Probe
Elsewhere, the saga surrounding Nairobi senator Johnson Sakaja’s academic credentials has taken a new turn after Team University, the institution from which the lawmaker claims to have received a degree, filed an injunction to prevent the Ugandan government from investigating the matter.
The Kampala-based university, which is already being investigated by the Ugandan Council for Higher Education (NCHE), has filed two cases at the Kampala High Court, which will be heard today afternoon.
Mr Sakaja, who is running for governor in Nairobi, is being investigated on suspicion of forging his degree.
He is also defending himself in the High Court after the IEBC Dispute Resolutions Committee declined to remove him from the race after the legality of his degree was called into question.
This comes after the Commission for University Education (CUE) rescinded an earlier recognition it had given to the degree Sakaja had presented for approval in order to run for governor.
The Nairobi senator is running on the ticket of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
Team University has now asked Justice Jamson Karemani of the High Court in Kampala to issue a restraining order preventing the NCHE from investigating the degree it claims to have awarded the senator.
“A temporary injunction be issued restraining the respondent from investigating, inquiring into or in any other way interfering with the qualifications awarded to the applicant.“
Interestingly, NCHE had already thrown in the towel in order to allow the Inspectorate of Government (IG) to complete its own investigation.
Mr Sakaja claims to have earned a Bachelor of Science in Management (external) degree from Team University in 2016.
NCHE launched an investigation to determine the authenticity of Sakaja Johnson Arthur’s Bachelor of Science in Management (External) degree from Team University.”
However, NCHE executive director Prof Mary Okwakol said prior to the completion of its investigations, the IG initiated an investigation into the same matter, resulting in the suspension of their action.
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On Monday, the senator, who has always claimed to have studied actuarial science at the University of Nairobi, stated that the voter seeking his disqualification from the governorship race simply wants to humiliate him in public.
“He (the petitioner) is placing unreasonable restrictions against my candidature through institution of frivolous suits both at the IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee and in this very instant petition,“ Mr Sakaja told the court.
Both cases will be heard today in Kampala and Nairobi.
Two Jailed For Forging Academic Certificates As Team University Moves to Stop Sakaja Degree Probe
