19 employees of Migori county government have submitted their resignation letters after they were implicated in an ongoing investigation on employees using fake certificates.
Migori County Secretary Oscar Olima said that the 19 were part of 93 other employees who are suspected of getting jobs at the county government using fake academic certificates.
Additionally, Olima said that the 19 chose to leave the services instead of waiting for the county and other relevant bodies to take action.
Out of the 93 workers suspected of either having fake primary and secondary certificates, 25 wrote to the county public service board requesting an opportunity to give their side of the story.
![Fake Certificates](https://thekenyatimes.com/storage/2024/06/woman_in_handcuffs.jpg)
Also Read: KNEC Issues Alert on Fraudsters Offering Fake KCSE and KCPE Grade Upgrades
County Government on Way Forward
In response to the letters sent by some of the employees, Olima said that the board had given them a chance of defending themselves before any further decisions are made.
However, he affirmed that investigations were ongoing especially to identify officials with questionable college certificates as part of an ongoing crackdown.
Additionally, he said that the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) verified the fraudulent primary and secondary school certificates among the county’s 2,700 employees.
Subsequently, the county government was guided by a list compiled by the Human Resource Audit Institute in 2023, and a staff headcount report done by the county government.
The 93 individuals implicated in the investigations had since been removed from the government’s payroll.
Also Read: Govt Employee Smoked Out for Using Fake Degree to Secure Plum Job
Govt Crackdown on Fake Certificates
In January 2024, a report by the Public Service Commission (PSC) revealed that nearly 20,000 employees on the government’s payroll were ghost workers while about 2,000 civil servants have fake academic papers.
PSC Chairperson Anthony Muchiri noted that the Commission undertook authentication exercise, whose initial findings showed that over 2,000 public officers secured jobs, promotions and re-designations using fake papers.
Subsequently, a crackdown on such officials was launched across the country in collaboration with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
“According to the reports received by the Commission, there are substantial cases of forged academic and professional certificates used for the award of appointments, promotions or re-designation in the public service,
“EACC will work closely with DCI and PSC to ensure we get rid of all fake certificates in the public service, which have dented the image and effectiveness of our public service,” said Muchiri.
Follow our WhatsApp Channel for real-time news updates!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaB3k54HltYFiQ1f2i2C
![Fake Certificates](https://thekenyatimes.com/storage/2023/11/EACC-app-og_image_0-700x375.jpg)
Discussion about this post