Kenya's crackdown on public servants hired with forged academic documents produced two more convictions this week, and the country's pension regulator has warned that such employees stand to lose their retirement benefits.

Two convictions at Milimani

On 22 October 2026, the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court convicted a former principal human resource officer of the County Assembly of Kiambu after she pleaded guilty under a plea agreement with the Director of Public Prosecutions. Investigators from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) found she had used a forged 1996 KCSE certificate to get the job.

The court imposed fines of Ksh 20,000 on each of three counts and ordered Ksh 1 million in compensation to the government on the count of fraudulently acquiring public property, a total of Ksh 1.06 million. She had earned about Ksh 4.9 million in salary between November 2020 and August 2025, according to KBC and Kenyans.co.ke.

In a separate case before the same court, a former accountant at the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency was fined a total of Ksh 130,000 after pleading guilty to uttering a false document and presenting a forged certificate. EACC said she had relied on a falsified 1996 KCSE certificate to meet the academic requirement for the post. Non-payment carries prison terms of one and two years on the two counts.

Pensions at risk

The Star reported on 23 October that the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) will follow the Public Service Commission's position that officers who obtained jobs with forged certificates are not entitled to pensions. An RBA analyst said the authority relies on the commission's communication to decide eligibility.

The same report cited the Public Service Commission's 2023/2024 compliance report, which found at least 1,019 public officers holding fake academic certificates, 449 of whom had been dismissed. A wider verification exercise had flagged more than 10,000 potentially fraudulent certificates by March 2025, although not all flagged documents have been shown to be fake.

What employers can learn

Both convictions involved secondary school certificates that were years old when they were presented. Employers can confirm national examination results directly with the issuing examinations council, re-verify credentials when staff are promoted, and record the verification outcome so that it can be audited later.

Sources

This News Desk report summarises information published by the sources above, written in our own words. Persons named in criminal matters are accused, not convicted, unless a court has ruled otherwise. To report an error, use our contact page.

KenyaEACCPublic serviceForged certificatesPensions

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