Gov’t Institutions Ordered to Audit Academic Papers of Employees Hired in the Last 10 Years

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has ordered all government institutions to carry out an audit of academic and professional certificates of employees hired in the last 10 years.

PSC Chairperson Anthony Muchiri, through a circular dated October 19th, 2022, said the directive affects all ministries, departments, and corporations. They are required to submit their respective reports by January 31st and sack those who will be found in possession of forged papers.

“The Commission notes that the circular under reference has received little or no traction by all the institutions and stakeholders concerned. This has necessitated a general public perception of the integrity of academic and professional certificates of a number of persons holding public offices,” said Muchiri.

The letter was copied to all heads of human resource management in the ministries, departments, and State corporations.

The commission further urged government institutions to continuously scrutinize academic and professional certificates prior to appointments and promotions.

A preliminary assessment by the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) determined that three in every 10 civil servants may have used forged certificates to gain employment in public service. This translates to about 250,000 out of the 865,000 civil servants.

“Our estimate is that 30 percent of the certificates are fake. It is very unfair that I sit in a university for four years, and someone else just gets a similar certificate in five minutes. You even find some cases where one has a degree purported to have been acquired long before he supposedly cleared his secondary education,” KNQA director-general Dr. Juma Mukhwana said last year.

“You have cases where someone claims to have a university degree from outside Kenya, yet they have never owned a passport. So, how did you get your certificate from that university abroad, then? Those kinds of things where no online learning was involved. Or sometimes you have a passport, but no study visa. Same thing. How then were you there for four years with no visa?”