The embattled Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has now come out to say that indeed he did not complete his course at the University of Nairobi.

Sakaja claimed he was forced to defer his studies from the university where he was pursuing a course in Actuarial Science because he lacked school fees.


The Nairobi County gubernatorial candidate revealed those details during an interview on a morning show on a local radio station.

He explained that after leaving school; he went out to look for employment opportunities in the city before landing in the murky waters of politics, from where he started earning some decent living.

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Although he made enough money in politics that could enable him to enrol back in school and finish his course, the senator said his shame could not allow him to go back and sit in class to complete his course.

He vowed he would return to the institution and complete the pending units and get his degree from the University.

“By the time I was now able to go back, I was too embarrassed and shy to go back to class. And that’s something I’ll complete, I’ll finish it, through 3 or 4 units,” Sakaja said.

According to Sakaja, he enrolled for another course at Team University in Uganda he claimed to pursue as a distant learner from 2012 and completed his course without haste.

It is from there that he got his contentious degree certificate that has frustrated his bid to become the next Nairobi City boss.

“I made the decision to pursue this program as an external student, on distant learning, and I did it slowly from 2012 and I finished,” he said.

Sakaja maintained that the academic credentials which he received from the Ugandan institution were credible and he was merely being frustrated because of politics.

“The requirement to run for governor is you must have a degree. I have a degree, I took it, they accepted and accredited it. I didn’t go there with a newspaper, I went with a certificate and transcripts and everything,” Sakaja said.

Sakaja’s gubernatorial race has been one with hurdles from several petitions filed against his candidature on grounds that he lacks proper academic credentials.

The Commission for University Education (CUE) revoked recognition of his Team University degree.


CUE revealed that a letter from NCHE said that Team University had confirmed that Sakaja had enrolled for a Bachelor of Science in Management and not a Bachelor of Science in Management (External) as the degree certificate he presented to CUE showed.

Despite all the hiccups, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is yet to revoke the nomination certificate it handed Sakaja after clearing him to run for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat.