- The officers have warned against failing to appear.
- The action comes a few weeks after the Public Service Commission (PSC) invited the body and the DCI to launch investigations.
Image: FILE
The crackdown on employees in possession of falsified academic documents has intensified with the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) striking Kisii county in the latest crackdown.
The commission has summoned 143 individuals whom it suspects secured employment by presenting suspicious and questionable academic qualifications.
A letter addressed to Kisii county secretary and head of the public service by EACC regional manager Ruth Yator requires the staff to appear before the investigators to record statements.
“To facilitate this investigation, please inform the officers to appear before our investigators at our South Nyanza regional office, Kisii...on the date and time indicated against their names,” reads the notice in part.
The officers have also been warned against failing to appear.
The action comes a few weeks after the Public Service Commission (PSC) invited the agency and the DCI to launch investigations after an audit found that more than 2,000 staffers in the public service have forged papers.
PSC chairperson Anthony Muchiri said the individuals used the alleged fake academic papers to secure jobs, promotions and re-designations.
Kenya National Qualifications Authority recently said in a statement that about 30 per cent of academic certificates held by Kenyans are falsified after a validation process.
KNQA acting director general Alice Kande said there has been a noticeable rise in the prevalence of alleged counterfeit academic and professional certificates.
“The escalating numbers of graduates holding credentials yet facing unemployment have contributed to the proliferation of fraudulent activities in this regard,” Kande said.
She noted that the proliferation of academic qualifications is injurious to the country because besides undermining the credibility and integrity of the higher education system, it puts the lives of Kenyans and citizens of other jurisdictions at high risk.
On Tuesday, four suspects were arrested for allegedly using forged credentials to acquire public service jobs at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and were arraigned at Eldoret law courts.
The four were arrested Monday by DCI detectives.
DCI said the suspects were charged with the offences of forgery of academic certificates, making of false documents, uttering of false documents and fraudulent acquisition of public property.
''The four pleaded not guilty to the courts and were released on Sh100,000 cash bail or a bond of Sh300,000," a statement reads.
The arrests come in the wake of a nationwide crackdown announced by the investigating agency on individuals who are said to have used forged academic papers to secure employment.
Last month, another suspect was arraigned in the same court.
He was arrested at the Waitaluk location within Trans Nzoia County for an offence of forging academic certificates.
EACC is a statutory body established under Section 3 of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act, 2011 with a mandate to combat and prevent corruption, economic crimes and unethical conduct in Kenya through law enforcement, prevention, public education and promotion of standards and practices of integrity, ethics and anti-corruption.