By Pharis Kinyua- Jamhuri News
Opposition Chief Raila Odinga is in the eye of a storm after a non-governmental organization moved to court to block him from vying for The Presidency or any public office.
The NGO, Human Rights Africa filed a suit at the High Court questioning the credibility of Raila’s academic credentials.
Through Lawyer Robert Onyango, the NGO argued that the former Prime Minister could not have acquired a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1970 from Herde Institute in Germany which he attended because it just became a university recently.
“The lack of clarity emanates from the fact that the University in which the 1st respondent claims to have attended only recently became a university and hence could not, by all means, have conferred a degree in 1970,” argued Onyango in his court papers.
Additionally, Human Rights Africa, in its court papers compelled the court to issue an order to Commission for University Education (CUE) to scrutinize all academic credential possessed by the opposition Chief.
It argued that Raila has only produced a certificate of Higher Education issued by Herde Institute, the German Democratic Republic showing he is competent in the German Language.
“He has only produced a certificate acquired in the years of 1962-1965, Certificate of Higher Education from Herde Institute, German Democratic Republic, with competence in German Language,” read part of the court papers.
The NGO has also asked the court to declare Raila unfit to hold public office citing several instances which have dented Raila’s leadership in the public sector.
Onyango told the court that claims by Dominion Farm CEO Calvin Burgess that the NASA chief was out to kill his business after he refused to fund his campaign are sufficient grounds of blocking Raila from holding any public office.
JKIA’s Greenfield expansion project, Triton and maize scandals are some of the other instances cited by the petitioner in which Raila’s name has been adversely mentioned and warrant his being blocked from holding any public office.