University cancels Senator Mithika Linturi’s law degree

Meru Senator Mithika Linturi is the first casualty of a crackdown on questionable academic qualifications.

The University of Nairobi Senate, sitting yesterday morning, discontinued the senator from the law degree programme. This means Mr Linturi will not graduate this month. He can, however, appeal against the decision.

The senator enrolled for the law degree programme in 2014.

A source at the university said admission letters spelled out the terms of acceptance for anyone wishing to study at the university.

“Admission is based on qualifications presented in a first degree. However, should the university find that the qualifications presented are not genuine, action is taken,” said the source.

This means even those who have graduated can have their degrees recalled. And those who have not graduated are discontinued from the programme.

The senator presented a first degree from India.

Pain experienced

Separately, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i yesterday narrated the pain his ministry experiences in verifying the academic qualifications of Kenyans seeking elective positions.

He said various politicians petitioning the election of their competitors had sued the ministry.

“So the ministry has been going through hell trying to establish whether the person actually has a degree,” he said.

In one case, Dr Matiang’i said the ministry wrote to the country where one of the candidates claimed to have studied.

“The country told us that the institution where the candidate claimed to have gone was not a degree-awarding institution at the time,” he said.

In another case, a candidate sat examinations in a foreign country and the qualification papers were written in a foreign language.

“Because of time constraints and the election timelines, he convinced the Commission for University Education (CUE) that he had a degree,” said Matiang’i.

“When investigations were done, however, it turns out that it was a participation certificate for a religious crusade. Then he went to court and the suit was not heard until the end of the term,” Matiang’i said.

A third candidate, the CS said, showed up with a first certificate being a PhD.

“The second was a bachelor’s degree and the third was a master’s. After investigations, it turned out that the address of the PhD offering institution was actually someone’s home in the United States of America.”

Matiang’i ordered the creation of a database to hold all the records of students who have studied in Kenyan universities.

He said the database would contain information of all Kenyans from primary school to university level.

Validation meeting

Matiang’i was speaking during a validation meeting of the Kenya National Qualifications Framework (KNQF) yesterday.

He said with the framework, it would no longer be possible to beat the system on academic qualifications.

The KNQF is the system for articulation, classification, registration, quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation of national qualifications.

Matiang’i said a database should be put in place to capture all academic qualifications.

The draft framework says the database shall contain registered unit standards, registered qualifications, accredited education and training institutions as well as validated programmes.

The database will also have recognised foreign qualifications and all learners’ records.