By Lauryne Akoth
EACC yesterday arrested Dennis Thuo Kimani for forging academic certificates to secure a job at Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC)
Thuo was working as a supply chain Management officer at REREC before his arrest. In a statement issued by the EACC Thuo fabricated a Deggree certificate from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. (JKUAT)
“Investigations established that Dennis forged a Degree Certificate in Purchasing and Supplies Chain Management and Transcripts from 1st to 4th year, purporting them to be genuine documents legitimately attained from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)”
Thuo was charged with uttering false documents and fraudulent acquisition of public property, the cumulative amount of salaries and benefits that he earned based on the fake certificates.
He was arraigned in the anti-corruption court before Principal Magistrate Hon Gichana. He refuted all the charges and was released on a bond of Kshs 700,000 or a cash bail of Kshs 200,000.
“The matter will be mentioned in court on 11th March 2024.” stated the EACC. Thuo is yet another victim of EACC’s crackdown on civil servants with doctored academic and professional certificates.
The crackdown stems from a report by the Public Service Commission on civil servants fraudulently acquiring government positions with forged academic certificates.
The Chairperson of PSC Amb. Anthony Muchiri, when handing over the report to the EACC and DCI stated that the falsification of academic certificates had far-reaching implications on service delivery by public institutions, the country’s education system, and economic development.
He also noted that out of the 53,599 cases of forged certificates referred to Kenya National Examinations Council by 91 institutions for authentication, 1,280 were verified as forged but clarified that the verification is still ongoing and expects the number to increase.
The EACC and DCI have been working jointly to arrest civil servants with forged documents following an audit exercise of professional and academic certificates in public institutions.
Several arrests have also been made concerning the same.