Mbabali defends disputed academic papers
Jun 19, 2011
EMBATTLED Bukoto South MP and ministerial nominee Hajji Muyanja Mbabali yesterday defended his academic credentials, saying the allegations against him were not supported by evidence.
By James Kabengwa and Dismus Buregeya
EMBATTLED Bukoto South MP and ministerial nominee Hajji Muyanja Mbabali yesterday defended his academic credentials, saying the allegations against him were not supported by evidence.
The court, presided over by Justice Owiny Dollo, is also sitting on Sundays to urgently dispose of election petitions.
DP secretary general Mathias Nsubuga, who lost in the elections, dragged Mbabali demanding that his election be annulled over lack of required academic papers.
Mbabaali says he attended SIT Institute in Malaysia and APAS for diploma courses before he attained a public administration and management degree at Nkumba University. But the National Council for Higher Education has disapproved his academic qualifications only a week after he was rejected by Parliament’s appointments committee for a ministerial post. On Thursday, the council assistant executive director Yeko W. Acato appeared before Dollo and testified that upon receiving Mbabaali’s papers for verification before nomination for Parliament, he started investigating the authenticity of the colleges from where the papers were allegedly obtained.
“We investigated the diploma from Malaysia awarded to Mbabali and we found out it was fraudulently acquired and the basis for his university degree is null and void,†he said.
But yesterday Mababali’s lawyer Peter Nkurunziza argued that the petitioners and the council had no substantial evidence regarding the fact that his client never attended the Malaysian schools.
EMBATTLED Bukoto South MP and ministerial nominee Hajji Muyanja Mbabali yesterday defended his academic credentials, saying the allegations against him were not supported by evidence.
The court, presided over by Justice Owiny Dollo, is also sitting on Sundays to urgently dispose of election petitions.
DP secretary general Mathias Nsubuga, who lost in the elections, dragged Mbabali demanding that his election be annulled over lack of required academic papers.
Mbabaali says he attended SIT Institute in Malaysia and APAS for diploma courses before he attained a public administration and management degree at Nkumba University. But the National Council for Higher Education has disapproved his academic qualifications only a week after he was rejected by Parliament’s appointments committee for a ministerial post. On Thursday, the council assistant executive director Yeko W. Acato appeared before Dollo and testified that upon receiving Mbabaali’s papers for verification before nomination for Parliament, he started investigating the authenticity of the colleges from where the papers were allegedly obtained.
“We investigated the diploma from Malaysia awarded to Mbabali and we found out it was fraudulently acquired and the basis for his university degree is null and void,†he said.
But yesterday Mababali’s lawyer Peter Nkurunziza argued that the petitioners and the council had no substantial evidence regarding the fact that his client never attended the Malaysian schools.