Merry Xmas for Mithika Linturi as he finally gets his law degree

Meru Senator Mithika Linturi will finally acquire a law degree from the University of Nairobi during the graduation on Friday.

The institution deregistered the lawmaker as a law student in November last year, on claims that he presented fake papers to secure admission. He was to graduate on December 22 that year and join the masters class.

UoN confirmed on Thursday that Mr Linturi will graduate alongside Deputy President William Ruto, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa and Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu.

After the deregistration, Senator Linturi sued the university, accusing it of participating in political witch-hunt spearheaded by his opponents, whom he named as former Meru Governor Peter Munya and a Mr Milton Mugambi Imanyara.

“It was illegal, unreasonable and an utter show of bad faith for the university to deregister 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 his lawyer Tom Ojienda said in the suit filed at the High Court.

Mr Linturi also claimed that MM Gitonga Advocates wrote a letter on May 17 to the university, demanding his admission records. The law firm accused him of falsifying his KCSE exam results.

The lawmaker further claimed that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission summoned him on the matter, but that before he could appear, it said it had already conclusively investigated the allegations,.

The battle led to a ruling in May by Judge George Odunga, who ordered UoN to readmit Linturi. The EACC said it would appeal.

About 10,000 students will graduate from the university on its 60th ceremony on Friday.

Mr Ruto will acquire a doctorate degree while Mr Wamalwa and Justice Mwilu will get master’s degrees in law.

For six years, the DP pursued a a PhD in plant ecology. The title of his thesis is ‘Influence of human activities on land use changes on environmental quality of riparian ecosystems: A case study of Saiwa Swamp watershed, Western Kenya’.

Mr Ruto’s project was approved in August 2012. He submitted the thesis in September this year and did his oral examination on October 24. His report was approved on October 25.

The DP has already published his work in two renowned journals as required by the Commission for University Education (CUE) which regulates university education.

These are the International Journal of Research in Environmental Science and the Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution.