EACC raises red flag on upsurge of fake academic certificates

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Friday July 28 revealed the menace of academic fraud in the country warning it was a direct threat to the integrity of Kenya’s education system.

While appearing before the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee of the National Assembly, the EACC deputy CEO Abdi Mohamud said they had identified at least five categories of academic fraud in both the National and County Governments.

The first category involves people who alter their high school grades on their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Certificates in order to ‘attain’ the requisite qualifications for gaining entry into the universities or other higher learning institutions.

The second category are persons who get admission to university programs but for unknown reasons fail to complete their studies and then forge degree or diploma certificates to secure employment.

The EACC further revealed that the other category involves people who enroll for university programs, complete their studies, and graduate but alter their degree or diploma classification. They alter the classification, for example, from Second Class Lower Division to First Class or Second Class Upper Division.

The fourth category are people who do not undertake any post-secondary education but forge degree or diplomas certificates to use in securing employment and/or admission for postgraduate courses such as Master’s degrees.

The final category are individuals personating people named on academic certificates to either apply for admission to higher learning institutions or seek employment as though they were the persons named on the certificates. This is where the fraudsters use qualifications belonging to other persons.

According to the EACC, employers, just like universities and colleges, bear significant blame for the menace of forgery of academic certificates in public service.
“Some workers secure employment, promotions, or university admissions using fake certificates with the full knowledge and support of their employers or the universities,” EACC said.

To address the menace of forgery of academic certificates, the EACC recommends that employers should always undertake sufficient background checks on the academic certificates submitted by job candidates to authenticate the same with the issuing institutions.

“Further, job adverts should require applicants to have their academic certificates certified by issuing institutions,” EACC said.

The anti-graft body also recommended that the universities and colleges should play a proactive role by establishing strong internal controls that would enable early detection of fake academic certificates submitted by prospective students seeking admission for various courses.

“EACC will continue to investigate and recommend the prosecution of suspects of academic fraud in addition to recovering any salaries and benefits earned by public officials from employment on fake academic qualifications,” Mphamud warned.