Super FM owner Peter Sematimba, who recently swore in as the Busiro South constituency Member of Parliament has lost his seat after court found that his academic papers had not been verified as authentic by the National Council for Higher education.
Court declared the seat vacant, to the delight of the plaintiff, Democratic Party’s Stephen Ssekigozi, who contested against Ssematimba seat and lost.
Prof John Asibo, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) executive director, testified in court that the NRM candidate Sematimba has an Ordinary Level certificate from Kings College Buddo, a pre-medicine transcript from Asuza Pacific University and a diploma in Electrical and Computer Technology from Pacific Coast Technical Institute, both in the United States of America.
Asibo said on the basis of these qualifications, the council granted a certificate of Advanced Level equivalent to enable Sematimba participate in the elections.
He, however, admitted that the council did not verify the authenticity of Sematimba’s diploma in Electronic and Computer Technology from Pacific Technical Institute before using it as a basis to grant him a certificate of A-Level equivalence last year.
Court also heard that the council has no proof that Sematimba attended the said university and obtained the diploma certificate.
While pleading his case, Sematimba had told court that his academic papers have security features to prove that they are authentic.
“The Asuza transcript has a golden background with the name of the institution printed across,” he said.
However, Pacific Coast Technical Institute from where Sematimba received his Electrical and Computer Technology diploma closed and the only proof he could give that he attended is a photograph wearing a graduation gown that he brought before court.
