Former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion who has also been serving as a nominated Member of Parliament has revealed that the cause of the fake academic certificates has been due to a flawed education system in Kenya.
According to Wilson Sossion, this has led to many untrained individuals assuming political seats without having the required academic credentials.
“Without mentioning names, that tells us about our governance systems in making sure that there is due diligence in the documentation of individuals and ensuring we meet the minimum standards. This is the highest level of intellectual dishonesty in Kenya,” said Wilson Sossion while appearing on KTN news.
According to Sossion, allowing people with unverified academic credentials to hold political positions for which they are ineligible for is a mockery of the education sector.
Sossion said that there have been cases of candidates not having academic credentials in every election cycle leading to a build-up of crooks in positions of power.
“Matiang’i revealed that we could be having 40% of conmen getting elected to parliament. We must set stringent rules, once the constitution gives clarity about the minimum qualifications, they should be followed,” said Sossion.
Sossion argued that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and political parties should present voters with the best candidates.
This comes amid the issue of Johnson Sakaja’s academic credentials.
Even though he was cleared by IEBC to run for a political seat, it has been revealed that Sakaja does not have a credible university degree certificate.
Some current politicians are in court defending cases over the authenticity of the academic papers. This is despite them being cleared to run for political seats based on the same academic documents.
For instance, Ferdinand Waititu, former governor of Kiambu, Machakos Senator Agnes Kabindu and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho are among the high-ranking officials who got cleared by IEBC but later faced charges of falsifying their academic papers.
On his part, Oscar Sudi is being accused of fraudulently acquiring a KCSE school leaving certificate a KCSE results certificate means from Highway Secondary School as well as from the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC)