Ruto Challenges Raila to Make Public His Academic Credentials

Deputy President William Ruto has questioned Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya coalition party presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s academic credentials. 

Ruto, who is the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party presidential candidate, claims that it is unknown what Odinga studied and in which institution.

The deputy president challenged Odinga, 77, to make public his academic papers and show Kenyans some of the people he schooled with.

He told the ‘deep state’ to stop wasting time fighting UDA Nairobi gubernatorial candidate Johnson Sakaja, insisting that he attended university and graduated.

On Wednesday, the Commission for University Education (CUE) revoked the recognition of Sakaja's Bachelor of Science in Management Degree from Uganda’s Team University, saying it received material information raising questions about the validity of his academic credentials.

A complaint has also been filed before the IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee seeking to have Sakaja disqualified from the Nairobi gubernatorial race for lacking the requisite academic qualifications.

“Leave alone our Nairobi gubernatorial candidate Johnson Sakaja. He went to school and graduated. It is your candidate (Raila) whose education is questionable,” Ruto said during a campaign rally in Nyamira County on Thursday.

Responding to queries about Raila’s academic qualifications, IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein said the presidential returning officer Wafula Chebukati did due diligence on his academic papers before clearing him to vie for the presidency.

“By the time he was clearing him (Odinga), he had certified himself that the candidate met all the legal requirements. To that extent I would say that Hon Raila Odinga actually met the requirements,” Marjan said during an interview on NTV on Wednesday.

Raila’s biography on his website indicates that he went to Kisumu Union Primary School, Maranda Primary and Maranda High School where he stayed until 1962. He spent the next two years at the Herder Institute, a part of the philological faculty at the University of Leipzig in East Germany. 

He then received a scholarship that in 1965 sent him to the Technical School, Magdeburg (now a part of Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg) in the GDR. In 1970, he graduated with a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering.