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UDA Demands Scrutiny Into Raila's Degree Certificate

Fridah Wangechi | 1 year ago
UDA Secretary General Veronica Maina and Azimio One Kenya Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga COURTESY
UDA Secretary General Veronica Maina and Azimio One Kenya Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga COURTESY

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party is now demanding that the academic certificates belonging to Azimio One Kenya party leader Raila Odinga to be verified owing to the speculations that they may not be legitimate.

The demand comes in the wake of the uproar that has risen following the public scrutiny that Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Johnson Sakaja has been subject to over his academic qualifications.

UDA Secretary General Veronica Maina was speaking in an interview on Citizen TV on Tuesday, June 14, where she responded to the allegations regarding Sakaja's certificates , asking that the same be subjected to Odinga whose degree she says still raises questions.

“Questions have also been asked about the credibility of presidential candidates’ qualifications. You have seen a lot of headlines questioning the university that our biggest opponent, Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, qualified from,” Maina stated.

“It is a very big question which needs to be looked at, not through the lens of just one candidate, but a wider public question,” she added.

Odinga has in the past been suspected not to hold a degree certificate but a welding specialization diploma from a technical college in Germany, which would consequently expunge him from the list of presidential contenders.

The Deputy President William Ruto-led party on its part maintained that it was satisfied with Sakaja's papers when he was cleared to vie in the party primaries and hence would have no reason to hold further investigations into the same.

Maina however noted that the matter was now in the hands of investigative institutions and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to determine whether the senator's certificates were in fact legitimate and hence give a way forward on the next step of action.

"If you see us clear someone at that level, we may not have doubts, but if we put it to other applicants to make an application and we have serious doubts about their credentials, then we have to do our own background checks," the sec-gen stated.

Sakaja has been under public scrutiny after a complaint was filed against him at the IEBC Dispute Resolution tribunal for allegedly not having the required education qualifications.

He maintains that he has a Bachelor of Science in Management degree from Team University in Uganda, dismissing the claims as propaganda.

“My qualifications and academic credentials are not in doubt having been affirmed through a lawful process.The complaints herein are legally incompetent, defective having been lodged outside the prescribed statutory timeliness,” he defended.

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