By ADEN KIPRUTO
Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has demanded Sh100 million in damages from Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) Secretary-General Stephen Mutoro over social media posts concerning his academic qualifications.
Barasa, through his lawyer Danstan Omari, also demanded that Mutoro pull down and retract all posts relating to him within two hours of receiving a demand letter dated September 21, 2026.
The demand comes as COFEK pursues a High Court petition seeking investigations into Barasa’s academic qualifications and the process through which he obtained a Doctor of Public Administration degree from Murang’a University of Technology.
In the letter, Omari accuses Mutoro of publishing “defamatory statements and publications” between September 14 and September 21, 2026, which he says were intended to lower Barasa’s status and damage his reputation.
The lawyer says the publications were made on social media platforms and have allegedly harmed the MP’s standing.
“Our instructions are to demand from you that you immediately pull down and retract all publications on all your social media platforms relating to our client within two hours of receipt of this demand and pay our client a Hundred Million Kenyan Shillings (Ksh100,000,000) for damages arising from your reckless defamatory publications,” the letter states.
Omari warned that failure to comply with the two-hour deadline would result in legal proceedings against Mutoro.
The demand follows renewed scrutiny of Barasa’s academic history after Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) told COFEK in a September 14 letter that the MP was not a student at the institution and that a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering certificate attributed to him was not genuine.
JKUAT Registrar of Academic Affairs Dr Aggrey Wanyama also said Barasa’s name did not appear in the university’s alumni records and that the institution did not hold a graduation ceremony in May 2008, the date appearing on the disputed certificate.
Barasa has disputed claims that he holds an engineering degree from JKUAT, saying his undergraduate and master’s qualifications are from Mount Kenya University.
Meanwhile, COFEK’s petition before the High Court challenges the role of the Commission for University Education (CUE) and Murang’a University of Technology in verifying Barasa’s academic qualifications before his doctoral conferment.
Barasa has opposed the petition, describing it as speculative and premature. He says he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and a Master of Arts in Public Administration and Management from Mount Kenya University and was admitted to the doctoral programme at Murang’a University of Technology in January 2023.
He says he completed the required doctoral work, including proposal defence, data analysis, seminars and an oral thesis defence held on March 25, 2026.
The court is being asked to determine whether the university and CUE properly discharged their statutory and constitutional duties in relation to Barasa’s doctoral studies.
