Kampala University has confirmed Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud’s degree in a move that is likely to change the course of a case challenging his election win at the Supreme Court.
The governor is facing an election petition case filed by his opponent, former governor Ahmed Abdullahi, whom he trounced in the 2017 gubernatorial election.
In documents filed at the Supreme Court, the university confirmed that Mr. Mohamud was admitted at the institution in July 2009 and graduated in year 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
“Not only was Mr Mohamud a student at the Kampala University, but he is also graduated,” Mr. Ssegawa Hamza, the registrar at Kampala University, says in an affidavit.
Further, in another affidavit, Mr Evans Kerosi, an academic registrar at the Kampala University from 2005 to 2011, confirmed that Mr. Mohamud was admitted to the university as a student.
The Supreme Court had allowed the governor to table his academic certificates, stating that he was not given a fair hearing at both the trial and the appellate court with regards to his academic qualifications.
Through Lawyer Fred Ngatia, Mr Mohamud said the courts had ignored the fact that the requirement for the governor to strictly prove that he holds two degrees had been waived through a consent signed by the parties during the pre-trial conference.
The move by the university gives strength to the Mr. Mohamud’s case and counters arguments by his opponent Mr. Ahmed who argued in an affidavit, the that the governor was cleared to run for elections without the required degree constitution requirement.
The governor also wants the Supreme Court to strike out the affidavits filed by his rival saying they are not additional evidence but entirely new evidence.