Economy

Linturi links varsity degree troubles to politics in suit

LINTURI

Meru Senator Mithika Linturi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Meru Senator Mithika Linturi on Monday challenged his deregistration at the University of Nairobi as a law student over allegations of fake academic papers.

Mr Linturi accused the university of participating in political witch-hunt fronted by his opponents whom he named as former Meru governor Peter Munya and Mugambi Imanyara, a losing candidate in the county’s Senate race in August.

Through lawyer Tom Ojienda, the legislator sued the university and listed the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) as an interested party.

“It was illegal, unreasonable and an utter show of bad faith for the university to de-register Mr Linturi without conducting its own independent investigations or informing him at the very least so as to afford him the right to be heard,” said Prof Ojienda.

He was set to graduate on December 22 with a Bachelor’s degree in Law following his admission on January 3, 2014 and hoped to join the Master’s class and has already paid fees.

Mr Linturi was deregistered for presenting a forged degree certificate from University of Marathwada in India which enabled him to secure his admission to the law school.

The decision to kick out the senator from school was arrived at during the university’s Senate meeting on November 29.

READ: UoN revokes Linturi’s degree on fake papers for admission

Mr Linturi was among 106 leaders the EACC flagged as having integrity issues in a list it presented to the electoral commission (IEBC) in June.

The EACC wanted the IEBC to block Mr Linturi from running for the Meru seat but he took the fight to the High Court and got temporary reprieve.

Mr Linturi reckons that he got news of his deregistration through the one o’clock news on television. He claimed that Mr Munya and Mr Imanyara had initially vowed to block him from the August 8 polls.

He alleged the EACC summoned him but before he did, it communicated saying they had investigated allegations levelled against him. He has accused the EACC of working with his political enemies in the university papers saga.