•CUE stated in a letter to IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati that the decision was reached after the conclusion of the investigation.
•According to the documents Sakaja submitted from Team University, he pursued a Bachelor of Science in Management (External), which the university was reportedly not accredited to offer at the time.
The Commission for University Education (CUE) has officially revoked the recognition of Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja’s degree from Uganda’s Team University, effectively ending his bid for the city’s governorship.
CUE stated in a letter dated June 29 to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati that the decision was reached after the conclusion of investigations into the matter.
The commission sought the following information from Sakaja for the purposes of its investigations: letter of admission from Team University, course units and dates studied for verifying instructional hours and workload requirements, transcripts, fee payment receipts, names of lecturers who taught him, graduation booklet, and any communication between himself and university staff regarding his studies.
CUE also demanded that the embattled Senator provide material evidence of his degree attainment in the areas of content, profile, workload, quality, and learning outcomes.
“Despite being given the opportunity to make written and oral representations on the matter via letters dated June 25th, 2022 and June 26th, 2022, he disregarded, refused, and or ignored both the request for information and the opportunity to exercise his right to be heard during the further investigations,” CUE wrote.
“The Commission conducted its investigations, which included an examination of his application, communication from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in Uganda, and the attached documents, as well as the information provided to it by the complainants.”
According to the commission, its investigations have since revealed that the documents Sakaja submitted from Team University indicated that he pursued a Bachelor of Science in Management (External), which the institution was reportedly not accredited to offer at the time.
As the Prof. Mwenda Ntarangwi-led team discovered, the university is only accredited to offer Bachelor of Science in Management and not Bachelor of Science in Management (External), which are two distinct courses.
CUE also stated that NCHE confirmed that Sakaja had enrolled for Bachelor of Science in Management rather than Bachelor of Science in Management (External).
“Bachelor of Science in Management (External) is not the same as Bachelor of Science in Management, and it violates the provisions of PROG/STD 05 guideline 1 of Universities Standards and Guidelines, 2014, which states that ‘academic program titles shall adopt universal nomenclature for similar programs and shall be short, concise, and descriptive of its overall content,'” CUE noted.
“That in his official declaration in 2017 while running for Senator, Sakaja Johnson Arthur stated that the only higher education qualification he possessed was a degree from the University of Nairobi.” There was no declaration made regarding Team University, from which he now claims to have received a degree in 2016. Since then, the University of Nairobi has written to the Commission to confirm that, despite enrolling in a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science in 2003, he did not complete his studies.”
“…at the conclusion of these investigations, we have not received any evidence from NCHE, Team University, or Sakaja that proves Sakaja pursued studies at Team University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Management degree,” it continued (External). Failure to submit even the most basic evidence of study and the process of earning a degree renders the degree certificate submitted insufficient to prove that Sakaja studied physically or through distance learning and holds an academic degree.”
The commission has thus notified Chebukati of its decision to revoke Sakaja’s university degree recognition, adding that the Senator has the right to appeal the decision.
