NAIROBI Kenya February 14 – The anti-graft body on Tuesday February 13 arrested an employee of the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) on suspicions that he forged an academic certificate to secure the job.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has said that their investigations revealed that Javason Kimemia Maina had forged a KCSE certificate from Kimuri Secondary School which earned him his position.
EACC then tabled their recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to charge Maina with fraudulently acquiring public property worth Sh293,240 in salaries, forgery and uttering a false document.
The DPP concurred and directed that the suspect be charged before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court.
“He was released on a bond of Sh700,000 surety of the same amount or a cash bail of Sh400,000,” EACC said.
The matter is set to be mentioned on February 26, 2024.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) has also heightened a crackdown on public servants who acquired their positions using fake certificates, and on February 13 released a report showing that 2,067 forgery cases have been identified in public institutions.
The PSC Chairman Anthony Muchiri said there are some public servants in critical government parastatals who acquired their positions using fake certificates.
The authentication of academic and professional certificates was undertaken by ministries, State departments and State corporations.
The findings revealed that most public servants with forged academic documents are in the Ministry of Interior, the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) and the Geothermal and Development Corporation, a parastatal under the Ministry of Energy.
The probe targeted 331 institutions among them 52 ministries, State Departments and Agencies (MDAs), 239 State corporations and Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies and 40 public universities.
With only 195 complying, 1,280 cases referred to the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) out of the submitted 58,599 cases were found to be forged.
“This number is not final as the authentication exercise is still ongoing and we expect to receive more cases of forgeries,” the commission said.
The common types of forgeries discovered include alteration of KCSE mean grades, forged KCSE certificates by those who did not sit the exam, fake education certificates while others were found to have never sat the alleged examinations or registered as candidates.
The report was handed over to DCI and the EACC for prosecution and recovery of money and assets gained from the fraudulent positions.
The report was released in Nairobi in a function which was also attended by EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak, chairman David Oginde and DCI boss Mohamed Amin.
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