Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has alleged that the petitioner seeking his disqualification from contesting the Nairobi gubernatorial seat is a malicious “mercenary” on a political witch-hunt.
According to court papers filed by Sakaja in response to the case lodged by Dennis Gakuu Wahome, the senator argues that, the case is engineered by unnamed powerful forces to humiliate him publicly.
“I affirm that the gist of the Petitioner’s suits challenging the validity of my academic qualifications are deliberately and primarily calculated to subject me to public humiliation, embarrassment as well as unreasonably restrict the exercise of my political and social rights under article 38 to be a candidate for public office,” reads court papers dated July 1.
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“Or office within a political party of which the citizen is a member and, if elected, to hold office. 9. That it is easy to unmask the Scheme behind the filing of this Petition by the Petitioner as a mercenary, proxy and a gun for hire by forces driven by malice and political witch-hunt,” Sakaja said.
Moreover, senator Sakaja questioned Mr. Wahome’s “curious” ability to access multiple documents, including the purported immigration records and Jubilee Party nomination applications dated 2016.
“The Honourable Court ought to take judicial notice of the fact that such documents which the Petitioner seeks to rely on (whose authenticity are in question anyway- and we ask the court to disregard the same) are not usually easily available to persons that are directly connected to any underlying investigations, let alone busy bodies that are unconnected to the underlying investigation such as the Petitioner,” he reported.
In addition, the senator dismissed allegations that the Bachelor of Science in Management degree he acquired from Team University in Uganda is fraudulent. Adding that allegations raised on the same are based on pure malice.
He further reported that even though the Commission for University Education revoked his degree certificate, the National Council for Higher Education-Uganda (NCHE) had already confirmed that it is legitimate.
Nonetheless, after the dismissal of his complaint by IEBC, Wahome moved to court to continue his fight against Sakaja’s clearance to run for office.
Furthermore, an oral arguments of the case is set for hearing on Monday, June 4, at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi.