A court has dismissed a case by the anti-graft agency questioning the academic qualifications of Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja for lack of jurisdiction.
High Court judge James Makau said the matter should have been taken to an electoral court.
“This court is not an election court but a constitutional and human rights court, which in my view has no jurisdiction to annul the election of a governor and or any elective post as set down under the Constitution,” Makau said in dismissing the case.
“Having carefully considered the pleadings herein and reliefs sought it is apparently clear that the substance of the petition is purely an electoral dispute which through the legal craftsmanship has been couched to purport and portray as a constitutional petition.”
Makau held that it would be against the law to turn an electoral dispute into a constitutional petition.
In the matter, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission questioned the degree certificates presented by Samboja for clearance to vie for the Taita Taveta gubernatorial seat in the 2017 General Election. He won the contest on a Wiper Democratic Movement ticket.
Samboja asked the court to stop the investigations into claims that he forged his academic certificates.
The EACC said the papers the governor holds are forgeries after Kenyatta University disowned them.
Samboja said EACC has assumed the role of a prosecutor and judge and already found him guilty.
He accused EACC of wanting to forcibly obtain documentary evidence from him, contrary to the Constitution.
Samboja asked the court to declare that the alleged misleading information in the self-declaration form submitted to the IEBC does not amount to a corruption offence or a matter within the mandate of EACC.
The anti-graft agency said it made inquiries at the institution and was told that Samboja is not a graduate of and never studied at KU.
The institution dismissed claims that he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2009.
Kenyatta University said there are no records to indicate that he was a student at the institution.
The anti-graft agency maintains that Samboja did not meet the educational requirements to contest the position because he fabricated his academic papers.
Justice Makau said the allegations by EACC remain mere claims.
(edited by o. owino)
