Blow to Sakaja as CUE officially revokes recognition of his Team University degree

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has suffered a heavy blow in his quest to ascend to the city’s governorship position after the Commission for University Education (CUE) officially revoked the recognition of his degree from Uganda’s Team University.

CUE, in a letter to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati dated June 29, said the decision was arrived at following the conclusion of investigations into the matter.

Among the information the commission had sought from Sakaja for the purposes of its investigations included: letter of admission from Team University, course units and dates studied for verifying instructional hours and workload requirements, transcripts, receipts for fee payments, names of lecturers who taught him, graduation booklet and any communication between himself and the university staff concerning his studies.

CUE further wanted the embattled Senator to furnish it with material evidence on content, profile, workload, quality and learning outcomes as proof of him earning the degree.

“Despite being granted an opportunity to make written and oral representations on the matter vide letters dated 25th June, 2022 and 26th June, 2022, he disregarded, refused and or ignored both the request to provide information and the opportunity to exercise his right to be heard during the further investigations,” wrote CUE.

“The Commission, proceeded with its investigations which included examination of his application, communication from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in Uganda and the attached documents together with the information submitted to it by the complainants.”

The commission said its investigations have since established that the documents Sakaja submitted from Team University indicated that he undertook a Bachelor of Science in Management (External), which the institution was reportedly not accredited by NCHE to offer at the time.

The university, as the Prof. Mwenda Ntarangwi-led team found out, is only accredited to offer Bachelor of Science in Management and not Bachelor of Science in Management (External); which are two separate courses.

CUE further added that NCHE indicated that Team University had confirmed that Sakaja had enrolled for Bachelor of Science in Management and not Bachelor of Science in Management (External).

“Bachelor of Science in Management (External) is not Bachelor of Science in Management, and it contravenes the provisions of PROG/STD 05 guideline 1 of Universities Standards and Guidelines, 2014, which provides that ‘academic programmes title shall adopt universal nomenclature for similar programmes and shall be short, concise and descriptive of its overall content,’” noted CUE.

“That in Sakaja Johnson Arthur official declaration in 2017 while vying for the position of Senator, he indicated that the only higher education qualification he held was a degree from the University of Nairobi. There was no declaration made pertaining to Team University, from which he now states that he had obtained a degree from in 2016. The University of Nairobi has since written to the Commission, confirming that whereas he enrolled for a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science in 2003, he did not complete his studies.”

It added: “…at the conclusion of these investigations we have not received any evidence from NCHE, Team University or Sakaja that prove that Sakaja pursued studies at Team University and earned a degree in Bachelor of Science in Management (External). Failure to submit even the most basic evidence of study and the process of earning a degree inevitably renders the degree certificate submitted insufficient to prove that Sakaja studied either physically or through distance learning and that he holds an academic degree.”

The commission has hence notified Chebukati of its decision to revoke the recognition of Sakaja’s university degree, adding that the Senator has the right to appeal the decision.