Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary nominee Mithika Linturi was questioned over his academic credentials during his vetting by the National Assembly’s Committee on Appointments on Friday, October 21.
Mithika Linturi told the vetting committee that he was unable to present some of his education credentials, including a degree acquired in India, following court orders barring him from accessing his house where the said documents are stored.
Moreover, Linturi noted that he was only able to present evidence of the documents in which he was in possession and that he did not have court cases tied around them.
“There are circumstances because my certificates are not attached… There is also a court order that bars me from accessing my own house where all documents are, even as I sit here, there are documents – my titles, logbooks – which I can’t access.” Linturi stated.
He further revealed that he is presently dealing with 35 civil suits.
“Issues around the Indian degree is that the documents I attached are the documents I can access. I attached the documents from the University of Nairobi, it does not have issues,” Linturi said.
Furthermore, Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, also a member of the vetting committee had asked about the legitimacy of Linturi’s alleged University of Nairobi law degree, saying the institution had allegedly sought to discontinue the ex-legislator over allegations of forgery of documents.
Linturi in his response, dismissed the Ugunja MP’s remarks and clarified that the University of Nairobi degree was genuine and had no issues around it.
“I don’t have any dispute with the University of Nairobi Law degree…the degree in question was a master’s degree,” Linturi stated in his defense.
Nonetheless, the Committee Chairman and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula was during the early stages of the vetting session forced to guide Linturi on how to answer questions.
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“There is an article called ‘the witness who talked too much’…if you have an Indian degree say yes, if you don’t have it here, say you don’t, the reason you don’t have it, you are barred from accessing your premises where it is, and we will leave it there. You are volunteering unnecessary information,” Wetangula stated.
Likewise, Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei echoed Wetangula’s words opining that the indirect responses by the former Meru Senator were a plot to dodge critical questions by passing time.
“I’m actually beginning to think that the candidate is voluntarily avoiding explaining to us how he will transform the agriculture industry in Kenya because he is spending too much time on questions which are not important to this particular docket,” she remarked.
