TUM to pay student Sh250,000 for blocking his graduation

The High Court has ordered Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) to pay a student Sh250,000 as general damages for violating his rights, among them denying him a chance to graduate.

Justice Eric Ogola ruled that TUM had violated Dismas Polle Mwasambu’s right to human dignity, fair administrative action and a fair hearing.

Justice Ogola ordered TUM to include Mr Mwasambu’s name on its list of graduates for a graduation ceremony scheduled for this year and not later than that.

“The violation of the petitioner’s (Mr Mwasambu) rights has been worsened by the respondent’s (TUM) failure to allow him to graduate on allegation that investigations over a forged certificate have not been concluded,” he ruled.

He noted that Mr Mwasambu had demonstrated that by the time the charges against him were presented, he had completed his undergraduate course, passed relevant tests and was only awaiting to graduate.

“It therefore beats logic not allowing him to graduate, especially since he had lawfully studied and completed the course for which he enrolled at the university,” Justice Ogola said.

Mr Mwasambu had told the court that he enrolled for a four-year undergraduate course in business administration with a focus on human resource management.

Upon completing the course, he was issued with a confirmation letter but was shocked to learn that his name had been omitted from the graduation list for 2018.

When he inquired, he was informed that disciplinary action had been taken against him on October 23, 2018, even though he had not been served with a notice or made aware of it.

He appealed against the findings of the student disciplinary committee to the vice-chancellor’s appeals committee.

The appeals committee asked him to get clearance from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) before being considered for graduation.

He applied for clearance to EACC, which cleared him to graduate, but the university refused to include his name on the list of graduates.

He said that TUM’s decision to suspend him and refusal to include him on the graduation list violated his constitutional rights.

He argued that TUM, as a public body, had an obligation to be transparent and accountable and to exercise principles of good governance.

The university, he said, had acted against the principles of fair administrative action, violated his rights to a fair hearing, education and dignity and had subjected him to unfair and degrading treatment.

Mr Mwasambu once served as Lamu County Executive Committee member for tourism.

TUM said it received a letter from EACC claiming that a fake degree certificate had been used by Mr Mwasambu to secure a job in a public entity and that they were seeking to confirm its authenticity.

The university said the certificate was confirmed to be a forgery as Mr Mwasambu was still a student and had not graduated.

TUM said that it was resolved that disciplinary action be taken against Mr Mwasambu pursuant to Section 9.13 of the student handbook.

The court heard that TUM decided that Mr Mwasambu could not be allowed to graduate until the matter was concluded by EACC.

TUM said Mr Mwasambu had not provided any letter indicating that he had been cleared of the forgery.

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