Kenya Railways (KR) and the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) are among government parastatals that have sacked over 180 employees for using forged academic documents to obtain employment, according to the Public Service Commission (PSC).
In the year leading up to June 2023, an additional 58 employees found to have submitted fake academic papers chose to resign.
KR expelled 55 staff, including two employees falsely claiming to hold degree certificates. KMTC terminated 35 staff members, and Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) dismissed 16 employees.
The Geothermal Development Company discharged 15 employees for forging academic papers, while both the National Construction Authority and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service each ousted three staff members.
“Arising from the findings of the authentication exercise, 58 officers resigned, six took early retirement, 181 were dismissed from service, 252 had ongoing disciplinary action, and one was deceased.
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“There was no action taken against four, and there was no information provided concerning 242 certificates found to have been forged,” Simon Rotich, the PSC Chief Executive said in a report to Parliament.
According to Rotich, most of the forged certificates reported were from State corporations and Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies at 76.3 percent, and ministries and State departments at 17.9 percent.
The PSC reported that 346 or 63 percent of State institutions verified the academic certificates of their officers.
Out of the 142,188 officers whose academic certificates were verified, 67,764 (47.7 percent) were confirmed as valid, 625 (0.4 percent) were determined to be forged, and the validity of 37,272 (26.2 percent) authenticated certificates was not indicated.
Meanwhile, Academic certificates for 111,130 (43.9 percent) officers had not undergone authentication.
