BY IRENE ONYANGO.
A Kakamega resident has moved to court seeking to block Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala from contesting the gubernatorial seat in the forthcoming polls over claims that he does not possess a university degree.
Lawyer Fred Muka claims in court papers that Malala’s academic papers are questionable. The lawyer says that the senator, who wants to contest the Kakamega governor’s seat on an ANC party ticket, never graduated from United States international University (USIU).
He alleges that Malala’s degree certificate has gained notoriety displaying patent disparities, inconsistencies, irregularities and contradiction that he graduated from USIU in the year 2011 while his degree certificate was printed in the year 2019.
According to him, the eight year period between the date of graduation and issuance of the degree is questionable because ordinarily the date on a degree certificate is the day a person graduates from an institution.
“A cursory glance at the graduation list of USIU for the year 2011 shows that Malala herein did not feature among the graduates for Bachelor of Science in information systems and technology neither did his name feature in the graduation list of 2019,” he said in the petition.
Muka also claims that Malala’s KCSE certificate from Friends School Kamusinga displays a different code from that of the official code of Kenya National Examination Council.
Muka says he is apprehensive that the certificates showcased by the senator may be falsified documents and that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) may clear him to vie for the gubernatorial position while relying on a misleading information which is an illegality and a direct breach of the constitution and the law.
