Following an expose by the Sunday Standard in June on the bogus academic qualifications of the Director of Marketing, Communications and Registration, Geoffrey Seleka, the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) has succumbed to pressure and suspended Seleka from duty. Seleka was suspended from duty on Wednesday, pending a disciplinary hearing at a date still to be decided by the management. While BIH Public Relations Manager Tigele Mokobi was cagey with details pertaining to Seleka’s suspension, Sunday Standard has it on good authority that BIH Chief Executive Officer Alan Boshwaen finally succumbed to pressure and suspended Selaka after his alleged bid to sweep the matter under the mat was met with resistance from the BIH Board, led by its chairman Neo Moroka. Information reaching this publication is that after the Sunday Standard published the story on how Seleka attained a bogus PhD qualification through a fly-by night online university, BIH engaged an independent consultant to verify the story and the findings corroborated what the Sunday Standard had published. Boshwaen is alleged to have been reluctant to take action against Seleka, arguing that while his PhD was fraudulent, he was still qualified to hold his position as the academic qualifications for the job were set at Degree level, which Seleka legitimately attained. His reasoning however didn’t convince the Board as they are said to have maintained that Seleka’s conduct had the potential to tarnish the image of BIH.
Asked to give details on Seleka’s suspension, BIH Public Relations Manager stuck to the response he gave this publication two months ago at the time we had wanted to find out what action was going to be taken against Seleka should he fail to prove our story wrong. “Please be informed that Botswana Innovation Hub maintains that we are currently investigating the matter and until the investigations are complete, we are unable to comment on the issue”, Mokobi responded in a typed message. Sunday Standard ran a story that exposed how Seleka had obtained a fake PhD certificate from Rochville University, an unaccredited online university that is notorious for selling fake educational credentials and has no listed physical address. Rochville University sells cheap, online education credentials and has been declared illegal in the U.S. An organisation called GetEducated Consumer Reporting Team, which investigates bogus institutions of learning, once applied for MBA degree at Rochville University using the name of their dog, Chester Ludlow and paid $499 online. A week later, Rochville sent them a package that contained Chester’s MBA degree, two sets of college transcript, a certificate of distinction in finance and a certificate of membership in the student council.
