Oscar Sudi was not a student at Highway secondary, witness says

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi. 

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi. 

Photo credit: Cheboite Kigen | Nation Media Group

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi was not a student at Highway Secondary School as he alleges, a Nairobi court heard Thursday.

A former principal of the school, Mr Patrick Maritim, also said the MP did not sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) assessment at the school as indicated in the documents the MP submitted to the electoral commission before vying for the parliamentary seat.

Mr Sudi had claimed that he sat the exams at the school in 2006.

But while testifying in the fraud case opened against the MP, Mr Maritim told the court that the index number Mr Sudi claims to be his belonged to another student.

The witness was called by the prosecution after an official from the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) said Mr Sudi did not register nor sit for the 2006 KCSE examination at the school.

Mr Maritim told Magistrate Felix Kombo that Mr Sudi’s name did not appear anywhere in the school’s register when he was the principal from 2010 to 2019.

Mr Maritim is now an executive committee member in the Bomet County Government in charge of administration and public service. Sometime in 2015, when he was principal at the school, he received a letter from the anti-corruption agency seeking information on Mr Sudi’s enrolment at the institution, he said.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) was requesting him to confirm whether Mr Sudi’s name was part of the school records and to provide the admission registry.

Collected their school leaving certificates

“I went through the admission books from 2005 to 2009, but could not find the name. I also went through the records of students who sat their KCSE in 2006 and had collected their school leaving certificates but could not find his name,” said the witness.

The MP’s name did not appear in the register and index 81, which he alleged to be his, belonged to Nicholas Otieno, who collected his certificate in August 2007.

“KCSE certificate is normally obtained from Knec. The student will then come and sign that it has been collected. And from the records, it does not show Sudi sat his KCSE at Highway Secondary School,” said the witness.

Mr Maritim was giving evidence against Mr Sudi, who has been charged with forging a diploma certificate in business management, purporting it to be a genuine document issued by the Kenya Institute of Management.

He is also accused of forging a KCSE certificate, purporting it to be a genuine document issued by the exams council. 

The court heard the evidence in the absence of Mr Sudi, following claims that he was sick and admitted at a hospital in Turkey.

The magistrate said he was not convinced of the reasons adduced by the defence lawyer that his client was unwell.

"The medical documents provided by the defence do not show the specific address where the hospital in Turkey is located," said Mr Kombo. 

"It is also now clear that your client did not travel. Why did you say yesterday that he travelled? If he gave you instructions that were not true, tell me and leave it to the court,” stated the magistrate.

The hearing of the prosecution case continues.