For some time now, it has been a well-known fact that Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu and his predecessor William Kabogo both attended the Punjab University in India in the 1980s.
In the run-up to the 2017 general election, the two rivals politicised their academic credentials, with Kabogo accusing Waititu of forging his papers. He also claimed that Waititu was neither his classmate nor schoolmate at Punjab University.
The former Kiambu governor, however, lost a court case in which he had sued Baba Yao on account of forging his academic qualifications.
The Punjab University administration also confirmed that one Clifford Ndung’u Waititu was their undergraduate student in the 1980s; and that he qualified for the award of Bachelor of Commerce degree.
On the back of this information, some people have been wondering how is it that Waititu and Kabogo were in the same university but never met each other, especially because they were Kenyan students in a foreign country.
According to Waititu, Kabogo was his senior by four years hence the reason their paths never crossed at the learning institution.
“Kabogo went to Punjab University four years ahead of me. So, there was no way we would have shared a class; and, by the time he came back to the university [for his certificates], he did not know that I was there,” Waititu said during an interview with Jeff Koinange on Wednesday night.
He also addressed the issue of his two names – Clifford and Ferdinand – saying: “I am Clifford. I took an affidavit to that effect. As a result, there shouldn’t be confusion.”
“I took the name Ferdinand because I wanted to become a police officer. I cheated about my age so that I could be recruited. I wanted to drop out of school and join the forces. However, when my pursuit was unsuccessful, I went back to my old name – Clifford,” said the Kiambu county boss.
“I have, to a significant extent, been referred to as Ferdinand because of the original ID that I took, which contained that name,” he said.
Waititu also told Jeff Koinange that he “used a students’ passport to travel out of Kenya in the 1980s”, hence the reason it was difficult to retrieve his travel records from back in the day.
