EACC Turns Sportlight on Engineer with Fake Degree

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has written to Roads Principal Secretary Eng Joseph Mbugua asking him to suspend a superintendent engineer at the ministry who the Commission alleges forged his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering.

In a letter dated January 10, 2024, and signed on his behalf by Deputy CEO Abdi Mohamud, EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak said the engineer initially used the fake degree purportedly issued by the University of Nairobi in 2006 to gain employment at the Kiambu County Government between 2016 and 2018.

“The commission conducted investigations and concluded that the officer used forged certificates to gain employment. The officer was subsequently arrested and charged before Kiambu Anti-Corruption Court on December 15, 2023, with…forgery, uttering false document…and fraudulent acquisition of public property,” Mbarak said.

“To this end, the commission advises that administrative action be taken against the said public officer as stipulated under Section 62(1) of the Anti-Corruption Economic Crimes Act, No.3 of 2003,” he stated.

The Act states thus:

“A public or state officer who is charged with corruption or economic crime shall be suspended, at half pay, with effect from the date of the charge until the conclusion of the case.”

According to the charge sheet, the engineer earned a salary of Sh3.1 million for the period he worked at the Kiambu County Government for the three years between April 2016, and August 2018.

Police said this amounted to a fraudulent acquisition of public property ‘having uttered a false academic certificate namely Bachelor of Science (Civil Engineering)” contrary to Section 45(1) (A) as read with section 48 of Anti-Corruption Economic Crimes Act, 2003.

Speaking in Meru County on Friday, EACC spokesperson Eric Ngumbi said the Commission is investigating how the said the engineer was absorbed at the Ministry of Roads on August 11, 2020, despite having resigned from Kiambu County Government on December 21, 2018, after the EACC exposed his fake academic certificates.

Ngumbi revealed that investigations established that he used the same forged Degree to enrol for and acquire three academic credentials at a local university.

A Post-Graduate Certificate in Environmental Impact and Environmental Audit in 2009; a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Legislation and Management in 2012 and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Environmental Technology.

Ngumbi said the awarding university has since withdrawn the Masters and Postgraduate Certificates and discontinued him from the PhD studies.

Investigations into the matter commenced in August 2017 and the suspect was charged before the Kiambu Anti-Corruption Court on December 15, 2023.

He pleaded not guilty and was released on cash bail of Sh500,000.

The matter is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on January 15, 2024.

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