The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has tabled proof in court showing that Kapseret Member of Parliament (MP) Oscar Sudi did not sit KCSE examination.
The Investigating oOficer told the court Sudi forged his academic certificates so that he could secure nomination to vie for the parliamentary seat in the 2013 General Election.
Submitting his evidence, Derrick Kaisha told the court that from the evidence gathered, Sudi did not sit for his KCSE exam at Highway Secondary nor did he study at KIM where he claims to have attained a Diploma in Business Management.
Kaisha told Trial Magistrate Felix Kombo that they received a complaint regarding the forgeries on May 4, 2015, and investigations were initiated a month later.
Investigator Kaisha then subsequently wrote to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission requesting for the self-declaration form submitted by Sudi.
The form is a statutory document required under Section 13 of the leadership and integrity act which requires a person seeking to be elected or take office shall submit it to the IEBC.
“I perused the contents of that form as filled by the accused. In particular, we were concerned with the education and qualifications bit. I observed that Sudi indicated the highest academic qualifications he attained was a Diploma at KIM issued in 2008.” The investigating officer said.
Having made that observation, Kaisha wrote a letter to the institution to inquire whether Sudi was their student.
The commission received a response on August 10, 2015, indicating that Sudi may not have been a student at the institution, for he did not have an admission number.
The officer continued to explain the court that he requested Sudi to appear at Integrity Centre together with his academic certificates, to which Sudi agreed but proposed they meet at the Heron Portico Hotel across the street from Integrity Centre on Milimani Road, now renamed Jakaya Kikwete Road. In the meeting on September 9, 2015, Kaisha was in the company of his colleague one Elizabeth Ngige.
At the meeting, the officers restated the allegations made against Sudi and requested that he provides them with any certificates he could be having. He didn’t have any.
“He said he did not have the certificates with him but undertook to provide them on September 11, 201.” Kaisha said.
The court heard that a request was made to Sudi to record a statement to that effect to which he agreed to.
In his statement, he confirmed that he attended Tulwopnyetuny primary between 1995 and 1998, adding that he proceeded to Highway High School where he sat his KCSE exams and that in 2006, he joined KIM to pursue a Diploma in Business Administration and later graduated in 2007 October.
According to the officer, Sudi later presented to the EACC officers scanned copies of his academic certificates.
“Having attended school within the environs of larger Nairobi, I could tell the school is known as Highway Secondary School and not Highway High School. That raised a red flag.” The investigating officer said.
After receiving the documents, Kaisha told the court that he made a decision to proceed to both the Kenya National Examinations Council and KIM to verify the authenticity of the documents.
The examining agency later informed EACC detectives that Sudi did neither register nor sit for the KCSE examinations in the year 2006 at Highway, under the index number 4010006081.
The official indicated there was no candidate that appeared in their database who sat the KCSE 2006 exams under the name Sudi Kipchumba .
KNEC also confirmed Kaisha’s observations that the school was known as Highway Secondary School and not Highway High School as indicated in Sudi’s KCSE exam certificate.
“The purported certificate for KCSE 2006 exams that we presented to Knec for verification is obtained from a forged document.” Said the officer.
Kaisha further told the court he subsequently visited Highway Secondary School to ascertain whether Sudi had registered there as a student between 2003 and 2006.
He found out that based on the admissions register which he witnessed, there was no student in the name of Oscar Sudi, adding that he also found out that Sudi used the postal address of a private citizen to be that of Highway school.
“I was also able to confirm from the school that prior to the year 2012, the school code for Highway Secondary School was 401005 and not 401006 as contained in the copy of KCSE certificate presented to me by Sudi.”
The officer said they were also able to establish that student index number 401005081 who sat the KCSE exam was one Nicholas Otieno of admission number 14180 and who was admitted in that school on February 17, 2003.
Further efforts by the EACC to find out if Sudi went to the Lelmorok Secondary School before allegedly joining Highway did not yield fruit.
“When I got there I found the principal of the school. Upon inquiry on whether Sudi was a student there, she indicated she was not principal at the time but when she came she was able to find a partially burned admission register.” Kaisha said.
The court heard that attempts to peruse through the record for 2000 and 2001 were inconclusive because the record was partially burned.
In closing, the officer, who is the last witness among 14 lined up by the Prosecution, told the court that all the documents in question were forgeries.
The matter was adjourned to August 22 when Sudi will have a chance to cross-examine the investigating officer regarding the evidence he presented to court.
