Kenya’s public service is facing renewed scrutiny over the use of fraudulent academic and professional certificates, with official records showing thousands of credentials have been flagged for verification.
The Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) has previously reported that it flagged more than 10,000 suspected fake certificates during an ongoing authentication exercise involving government employees.
According to KNQA, the agency had received about 47,000 employee files from approximately 400 government institutions following a 2022 directive requiring public institutions to verify the academic and professional qualifications of their staff.
KNQA Chairman Stanley Kiptis said the more than 10,000 flagged files had been returned to the respective institutions for further action, while urging institutions that had not submitted their records to expedite the verification process.
The figure, however, does not mean that 10,000 government workers have been conclusively found guilty of possessing or using forged certificates, but represents credentials flagged during the verification exercise.
The controversy has also touched key public institutions, including the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Parliament.
On Monday, a Nairobi court fined a former IEBC assistant elections officer Sh80,000 after he was convicted of using a forged Bachelor of Business Management degree certificate to support an application for promotion.
The case is among several handled by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which says it has taken 90 cases involving forged academic certificates to court, with 43 resulting in convictions.
The EACC has also reported cases involving public officers who allegedly used forged qualifications to secure employment, promotions and higher salaries.
A February 2024 Public Service Commission audit cited in a recent report found that more than 2,000 public officers had used fake academic and professional documents to secure employment, promotions or re-designations.
The issue has also emerged within Parliament, where employees have faced disciplinary action and legal challenges over allegations concerning academic credentials. The Parliamentary Service Commission has, however, disputed some of the allegations and maintained that certain employees named in the controversy had not been found to possess fake certificates.
The renewed scrutiny comes as the Government seeks to strengthen verification of academic qualifications before recruitment and promotion.
Head of Public Service Felix Koskei recently chaired a meeting involving the Public Service Commission, Kenya National Examinations Council and Ministry of Education to discuss measures to integrate academic credential authentication systems.
The initiative is expected to strengthen verification mechanisms and prevent individuals using fraudulent qualifications from securing positions of responsibility.
The EACC has warned that the use of forged academic documents undermines merit-based recruitment and can result in taxpayers paying salaries to individuals who obtained employment or promotions through fraudulent means.
Authorities are therefore under increasing pressure to complete the verification exercise and take appropriate action against individuals whose qualifications are found to be fraudulent, while ensuring that those accused are afforded due process.