KISII, Kenya March 4 -Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have summoned 143 Kisii County government employees for presenting questionable academic qualifications to secure employment in the public office.
In a letter addressed to the County Secretary and Head of Public Service, the EACC Regional Manager Ruth Yator urged the official to ensure the employees named present themselves before the investigators to record their statements.
Majority of the employees affected are top officers in various departments who were employed in the last regime of Governor James Ongwae.
“To facilitate this investigation, kindly inform the following officers to appear before our investigators at our South Nyanza Regional office, Kisii, along Kisii-Kilgoris road on the date and time indicated against their names,” read the summoning letter.
A report by the Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM) also revealed that some employees in the Kisii County Government used fake certificates to seek employment.
The report was made public in 2023 by the IHRM Executive Director Queresha Abdullahi.
“We also conducted the verification of certificates through the Kenya National Examinations Council. Given the nature of this report as it touches on individuals and its sensitivity, we are leaving it with the Governor for him to take it up with the stakeholders and the relevant authorities,” he said during the release of the report.
The report also revealed that the county had 1,314 ghost workers.
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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