Shadrack Nyakoe
By Njeri Irungu
Kenya’s fight against fake academic certificates took center stage at the Ethics and Integrity Conference 2025, where government officials sounded the alarm on what they described as a growing national crisis. Head of Public Service Felix Koskei delivered a stern warning about the proliferation of falsified qualifications that threaten to undermine the country’s merit-based employment system and damage Kenya’s international reputation.
Standing before stakeholders from government, academia and the private sector, Koskei painted a troubling picture of how forged certificates have infiltrated nearly every sector of public service, from national and county governments to parastatals and independent offices. His concerns were underscored by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission CEO Abdi Mohamud, who revealed startling statistics – 549 reported cases of certificate forgery since 2022, with 85 files already forwarded for prosecution and 13 convictions secured so far.
The gravity of the situation became even more apparent as Koskei connected the dots between academic fraud and Kenya’s broader development agenda. With youth unemployment hovering at a staggering 67 percent, the prevalence of fake certificates creates an unfair system where qualified graduates lose opportunities to unqualified candidates. This issue takes on added urgency as Kenya positions itself in the international labor market, with the government actively negotiating job opportunities abroad for Kenyan workers.
In response to this crisis, Koskei outlined a comprehensive action plan that includes stricter enforcement of recruitment laws, improved verification systems, and personal accountability for officials who oversee fraudulent hires. Perhaps most significantly, he announced plans to form a special multi-agency task force that will bring together investigators, prosecutors and education officials to streamline the process of identifying and prosecuting certificate fraud.
The EACC’s ongoing efforts to recover salaries obtained through fraudulent means demonstrates the financial toll of this problem. But as both Koskei and Mohamud emphasized, the damage extends far beyond monetary losses – it strikes at the heart of Kenya’s governance systems and international standing.
As the conference continues, participants are expected to develop concrete strategies to safeguard the integrity of Kenya’s education credentials. With the credibility of Kenyan qualifications and the future of the country’s workforce at stake, the message from leadership was clear: the era of tolerance for academic fraud must end, and the time for decisive action has come. The success of this initiative, officials stressed, will require unprecedented cooperation across all sectors of Kenyan society.
