On Wednesday, news broke that the first candidate who was set to be interviewed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s Selection Panel had withdrawn his candidature.
Nairobi Leo has learnt that Abdalla Mohamed’s withdrawal just hours to the beginning of the interview was because of a forged degree, he purportedly acquired from the Kenya Methodist University (KeMU).
According to the IEBC selection panel Chairperson, Dr Elizabeth Muli, the panel wrote to universities and other agencies seeking verification of the documents presented by candidates and KeMU responded saying that Abdalla Mohamed did obtain the degree from the institution as he claimed and was not even a student at the institution.
"The Selection Panel wrote to the Kenya Methodist University seeking verification of Abdalla’s Bachelor’s Degree which he had alleged to have been awarded on July 28, 2007," said Ms Muli’s statement.
The Selection Panel chair said Kenya Methodist University Vice-Chancellor responded on July 1st with confirmation that Abdalla’s degree was a forgery.
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"This is to confirm that Abdalla Mohamed was not a student of Kenya Methodist University. The academic certificated BUS-1-206-05 was not issued by Kenya Methodist University and is, therefore, a forgery," said the Vice-Chancellor.
According to Muli, the panel informed Abdalla of the development on Tuesday, July 6th to which he responded by saying he would not show up for the interview.
"In his email response of the same day, Mr. Mohamed thanked the Selection Panel for its correspondence and stated that he would not attend today’s interview," said Muli.
The interviews to fill the vacant IEBC Commissioner slots began on Wednesday and will go on for the next two weeks.
The interviews will see the selection panel identify and recommend to President Uhuru Kenyatta the most suitable candidates to fill the four Commissioner slots at the electoral body.
