The Electoral Commission (EC) is set to release Bobi Wine’s academic credentials today following a petition by maverick lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi.
Counsel Mabirizi petitioned the EC seeking to be availed with Kyadondo East lawmaker Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine’s academic credential details ahead of the 2021 general elections.
Electoral Commission’s Letter to Mabiriza
In his letter to EC dated August 10, Mabirizi says he wants Bobi Wine’s academic credentials to satisfy his doubts that the presidential hopeful possesses the minimum requisite papers for the office.
Section 4(3) (c) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 2005 states that a person is qualified to be a member of parliament if he/she has completed a minimum formal education of advanced level or its equivalent.
“Bobi Wine’s academic details available at the parliament website indicate that he was born in 1982 and sat A-level in 1998. This means that if he was born in 1982, he sat A-level at 16-years, O-level at 13-years and PLE at 9-years and started his educational journey at 2-years only which is peculiar,” Mabirizi argues.
Mabirizi has since paid the said amount to allow him access Kyagulanyi’s academic documents
This, according to Mabirizi creates doubt about his academic credentials and can only be satisfied by looking at the academic documents tendered to EC at the nomination in the 2017 by-election which brought him to parliament.
Mabirizi described by many a perennial litigant bases his application to the electoral body under section 5 of the Access to Information Act, 2005, and Article 41 of the Constitution.
Asked why he is coming out at this time to contests the pop star-turned-politician academic credentials, Mabirizi said, “We want to avoid a scenario of former Kampala Mayor Hajj Nasser Ssebaggala. We (Baganda) do not want to be ashamed again.”
