Kenyan politicians have had their fair share of controversy when it comes to their academic qualifications.
Despite vying for top political seats, they have been accused of using fake academic papers during the elections.
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho survived being barred from defending his seat after the Kenya National Examinations Council alleged his secondary school certificate was a forgery.
KNEC’s acting chief executive, Mercy Gathigia in a letter to the Director of Criminal Investigations stated they had established that the “purported" copy of results slip presented to the council for authentication was obtained from a forged document.
Joho has been battling claims on the authenticity of his academic qualifications with several court cases being brought against him since his election as the governor of Mombasa County.
[caption caption="Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho"]
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Questions were raised surrounding Taita-Taveta Governor Granton Samboja’s academic qualifications after Kenyatta University indicated there are no records to indicate that he was a student at the institution.
The university maintained their internal search revealed that Samboja had not applied for, obtained admission or attended the institution as a student for a certificate, diploma and degree in project management, human resource management and Bachelor of Commerce.
Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi, on the other hand, became the first casualty among county bosses to lose his seat in an election petition after a court ruled he was not validly elected because he lacked a valid degree certificate.
Justice Alfred Mabeya dismissed his Master's degree noting that he had not graduated with any degree and one cannot obtain a Master‘s degree before obtaining a Bachelor’s one.
The University of Nairobi took a drastic move and deregistered Meru Senator Mithika Linturi as a law student for allegedly presenting fake papers to get admission.
[caption caption="Meru Senator Mithika Linturi "]
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According to UoN's Senate, the decision to deregister Linturi came after investigations revealed that the degree from a university in India he used to secure admission at the University of Nairobi was forged.
