Massive Fraud Exposed: Nearly 3,000 Government Officials Hold Fake Degrees – Including Police Chiefs and Parastatal Bosses

A damning new investigation has uncovered one of the most extensive fraud scandals in Kenya’s public service history, with nearly 3,000 government officials – including top police commanders, parastatal chiefs, and senior investigators – exposed for using fake academic credentials to secure their positions.

The explosive findings, revealed during a high-level Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) conference, paint a devastating picture of systemic deception that has infected every corner of Kenya’s public sector for over a decade.

Head of Public Service Felix Koskei delivered the bombshell revelation, describing the scandal as a “threat to unraveling government objectives” that has compromised the very foundations of public administration.

The numbers are staggering. Out of 28,000 cases reviewed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) across 91 public institutions, at least 1,280 certificates have been confirmed as outright forgeries.

An additional 787 officers from 195 ministries, departments, and agencies were found to have fraudulently obtained employment, promotions, and transfers using fabricated documents.

“Falsified certificates have been found in almost all sectors of the public service,” Koskei warned, adding that the fraud spans “national and county governments, parastatals, and commissions and independent offices alike.”

State corporations lead the shameful parade, accounting for a shocking 70 percent of all forgeries, followed by public universities with 116 confirmed cases.

The rot runs deep

Perhaps most alarming is the revelation that the fraud isn’t limited to higher education certificates.

The forgeries span all educational levels, from primary school certificates to PhDs, suggesting a deeply entrenched culture of academic dishonesty.

PSC Chairman Anthony Muchiri delivered a particularly scathing assessment of the situation, revealing that many so-called “doctors” appearing for senior government positions cannot even articulate basic concepts during interviews.

“We have people coming for interviews with PhD papers but what is coming out of their mouth is different,” Muchiri said with obvious frustration. “Some of them are genuine, even their papers are genuine but their brains are not genuine.”

The financial implications are equally devastating. EACC CEO Abdi Mohamud revealed that the anti-corruption watchdog is pursuing the recovery of at least Sh460 million in salaries paid to officers who fraudulently obtained their positions.

Since 2022, the EACC has investigated 549 reports of certificate forgery, completing 134 investigation files with 85 forwarded for prosecution. At least 20 cases have reached court, resulting in 13 convictions and seven acquittals.

A ‘pandemic’ of fraud

EACC Chairperson Bishop David Oginde didn’t mince words, describing the crisis as a “pandemic” that has spread across multiple sectors.

His office has faced significant backlash for pursuing salary recoveries, with many defending the accused on grounds that they had “served Kenyans with their energy.”

Oginde firmly rejected such arguments: “These people built their houses on sinking sand, the foundations for their houses are wrong. Yes, they delivered services but the probability that they delivered substandard service is very high.”

The scandal has exposed serious institutional failures beyond the individual acts of fraud. Of the institutions that discovered fake certificates among their staff, only 49 reported the cases to relevant authorities, while 43 others couldn’t provide evidence of having done so.

Four institutions that did submit reports failed to accurately account for the confirmed forgeries within their organizations, suggesting either incompetence or deliberate cover-ups.

National reputation at stake

The implications extend far beyond Kenya’s borders. Oginde warned that the country’s reputation for producing qualified human capital is under serious threat.

“The rampant reports and cases of falsification of academic and professional certificates that continue to flood the news channels will definitely have a negative impact on the products that we put out to the stiff competition in the job market,” he cautioned.

The government has already taken some action, dismissing 449 civil servants in January from a pool of 1,019 staff found to have used fake certificates.

However, with nearly 3,000 cases now confirmed, the scope of required action appears far more extensive.

The PSC has called for comprehensive verification of all academic papers held by public servants, covering certificates presented between 2012 and 2022. Out of 53,000 certificates reviewed, nearly 3,000 have been confirmed as forgeries.