‘It is shameful!' Magoha tells off politicians fighting to prove academic qualifications

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha has called out politicians over the ongoing controversy over the academic qualifications of candidates eyeing elective seats in the upcoming August elections.

Prof. Magoha, while speaking at Pangani Girls High School in Nairobi where he opened new CBC classrooms, said it was illogical for aspirants to keep on trying to prove their education credentials knowing well they are not qualified.

Without referring to a particular politician, the CS told off political candidates telling them to stop stressing universities in a bid to get credibility.

“I, Magoha, son of Magoha, will not fight to say I am not what I am not, and am not targeting anybody. It is very shameful that people who want to be our leaders, and they are many of them, are fighting to prove that," he said.

Magoha added: "If you ask me who my classmates were 47 years ago, I will give you a battery of them. They are all over the world."

While referring to the University of Nairobi where he (Magoha) was once the Vice-Chancellor, the CS said that it is easy to clarify education credentials contrary to how the politicians are making the process onerous.

Magoha noted that most of the higher institutions have digitized systems and can easily identify an alumnus.

“I want to urge our politicians and more so the parliamentarians to stop destroying our universities. Our universities need to be regimented and especially in the UoN… If you want transcripts of someone who studied there in 1975, you will just touch a button and get the transcripts,” said Magoha.

This follows the recent verification of degrees that have seen some of the aspirants barred from contesting for various positions.

Nairobi aspiring gubernatorial candidate Johnson Sakaja and his Machakos counterpart Wavinya Ndeti are among the top candidates whose academic qualifications have come under the spotlight.