Churches Want Uganda’s Team University to Revoke Senator Sakaja’s Degree

The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) wants Uganda’s Team University to revoke Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja’s Bachelor of Science in Management degree.

AACC, a Nairobi-based fellowship of 500 member churches, wrote to the university’s management seeking a detailed explanation about the circumstances under which the said degree was issued and disciplinary action taken against the officials who issued it.

The body has asked the institution to provide it with a certified copy of the list of those who graduated on October 21st, 2016 together with Senator Sakaja, Ugandan publication Daily Monitor reported.

They also want to be furnished with a copy of Sakaja’s admission letter, details of payment of tuition fees, and the mode of instruction leading up to the award of the degree in question. The religious organization further demanded proof that Sakaja attended all the classes or minimum threshold of classes required to graduate whether physical or online.

“Sakaja was a nominated Member of Parliament in Kenya between 2013 and 2017. Therefore, it is not practically possible that he physically attended classes in Team University as the university has no campus in Kenya and from the available records in the Kenyan parliament, there is no evidence of Sakaja’s absenteeism from parliament to enable him to have physically attended the school,” AACC says in a letter to the university.

It further argues that Team University had not been licensed to offer online lessons at the time when Sakaja claims to have gone to school there.

“As for online classes, your university was not licensed to offer online classes and indeed did not offer any such classes during the period between 2012 and 2016 when Mr Sakaja claims to have attended the school,” the letter adds.

AACC noted that Sakaja, who presented the degree for clearance to vie for the Nairobi governor seat in the August elections, has only traveled to Uganda once, on October 17th, 2014, while on parliamentary duty.

The body also wants the university to explain why the degree that was reportedly issued to Sakaja is categorized as “Bachelor of Science in Management (External)” and not “Bachelor of Science in Management” as was captured in the graduation booklet.

It also seeks to know why Sakaja’s name neither appears on the graduation list nor the addendum of the graduation booklet.

The Commission for University Education (CUE) revoked the recognition of Sakaja's degree on June 15th pending investigations into its authenticity. CUE later withdrew a letter revoking the degree after Sakaja obtained a court order.