Setbacks in Sakaja Johnson’s gubernatorial race have commenced afresh, deeming it a challenge for the Senator to catch a break to cool off his mind. Three voters on Thursday filed cases, consolidated by Justice Anthony Mrima, seeking his declaration ineligible for the gubernatorial race.
This comes after new petitioners David Gitau, Antony Macharia Munene, and Timothy Charo Odhiambo -want the court to endorse the decision of the Commission for University Education (CUE), revoking the recognition of Sakaja’s degree from Team University, Uganda.Apparently, the cases have been filed on the eve of the judgment to be done for a similar case earlier filed by Wahome Gakuu against Mr. Sakaja.All the petitioners argue that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), should uphold the CUE declarations after investigations that established Sakaja was never admitted to a Kampala-based University.This comes after an earlier clearance for Sakaja when IEBC’s Dispute Resolution Committee had thrown out a petition that was challenging his nomination. The main reason for this dropping of the cases was attributed to a lack of investigative powers and hence left to rely on a criminal conviction against Sakaja for it to deem the degree certificate as invalid.The petitioners are now aggrieved by the electoral commission’s dismissal o the letter and cite this as a failure in meeting its obligations and mandate of ensuring candidates for election are duly qualified for those positions.Antony Macharia said: “The position taken by the IEBC that it cannot determine a dispute relating to the authenticity of a disputed Degree Certificate is an absolute abdication of its responsibility and a failure to act in the discharge of a duty imposed under any written law.”
