Two public servants were on Tuesday, July 5, sentenced to cumulative six years in jail for forging academic certificates amid numerous claims of fake academic papers held by some politicians.
The two, Pauline Otieno and Lilian Ochieng, were employees at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation in 2018 as supplies assistants.
At least three high-profile politicians, besides Johson Sakaja, have had questions raised over the authenticity of their various academic papers.
According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the pair was charged with five counts of crimes among them forgery and deceit.
“They faced the following criminal charges; forgery, providing false information to a public entity, deceiving a public entity, uttering a false document, and fraudulent acquisition of public property being the cumulative salary earned on forged certificates,” read a statement by EACC.
Otieno was convicted and jailed for two years and six months or pay a KSh 228,698 fine while Ochieng was jailed for three years and six months or pay a KSh 271,901 fine.
“Pauline forged a Certificate in Procurement from Mount Kenya University while Lilian forged both a Diploma and Certificate from the Kenya Institute of Management,” EACC said in a statement.
Prior to formal employment, the duo had worked in the corporation for eight years as casual employees before forging the documents for their promotion to Supplies Assistants.
This comes at a time when a section of politicians is battling cases of academic forgery ahead of the much-awaited August 9, General Election.
For instance, detectives are investigating the authenticity of Nairobi senator Johnson Sakaja’s degree certificate.
Sakaja’s degree from a Ugandan University is being probed by two institutions from Uganda, the Inspectorate of government and the National Council for Higher Education.
On June 29, 2022, the Ugandan Council for Higher Education (NCHE), in a letter to the Commission of University Education (CEU), absolved itself of responsibility so that the Inspectorate of Government (IG) could finish its own investigation.
Kakamega gubernatorial aspirant Cleophas Malala and Machakos county gubernatorial aspirant Wavinya Ndeti are two other high-profile politicians whose academic papers have been questioned.
MP Oscar Sudi has a case pending in court where he is accused of forging his KCSE certificate as well as his Diploma from the Kenya Insitute of Management.
