Two former public officers have been taken to court over allegations that they used forged academic certificates to secure public jobs, with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) seeking to recover millions of shillings allegedly paid to them as salaries.
Kenneth Mwiti Kiogora, a former Second Clerk Assistant at the Kiambu County Assembly, and former Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) employee Daniel Mukoya Olando were arrested on Wednesday and separately presented before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on Thursday.
The two denied the charges brought against them.
Mwiti is accused of forging a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate and presenting it as an authentic document issued by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).
The EACC said its initial investigations showed that Mwiti allegedly relied on the disputed certificate to obtain employment at the Kiambu County Assembly.
The commission further alleged that he received public funds in the form of salaries during the period he held the position, with the amount said to have reached Sh6,283,631.30.
“The EACC forwarded the inquiry file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who concurred with the Commission’s recommendation to charge Mwiti with fraudulent acquisition of public property, forgery, uttering a false document and deceiving a principal,” the commission said.
Mwiti faces four counts linked to the alleged creation and use of the certificate as well as the alleged acquisition of public resources.
The court released him on a cash bail of Sh150,000 or a Sh1 million bond, with a surety required for the bond.
In the second case, the EACC accused Mukoya of forging a Bachelor of Commerce degree certificate in Accounting and presenting it to KAA in support of his appointment as an Acting Fire Supervisor.
Mukoya faces charges of knowingly using a false or misleading document, forgery, uttering a false document and providing false information.
He was granted a cash bail of Sh100,000 or a Sh500,000 bond, with a surety of a similar amount.
The latest prosecutions form part of a wider EACC push to investigate cases in which public officers are alleged to have used false academic qualifications to obtain jobs or advance their careers.
In January 2025, the commission said five public officials had been taken to court within five days over alleged academic certificate forgery linked to employment or career advancement at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company.
The EACC has previously said more than 2,000 public officers have been alleged to hold fake academic certificates, with action taken at different stages of investigation and law enforcement.
The commission has also called on public institutions to verify academic and professional certificates before employing people or considering them for career progression.
Previous cases have also resulted in court penalties and efforts to recover salaries allegedly obtained through fraudulent employment.
In November 2025, the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court fined former Nairobi City Water employee Felix Ojwang Balamu Sh8.5 million after finding him guilty of using a forged KCSE certificate to obtain employment.
According to the EACC, Sh8,243,562 of the amount represented salary allegedly earned through the fraudulent employment.
In another case, former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission driver Kenneth Kiplagat Tonui was charged in January 2025 over allegations that he used a forged KCSE certificate to obtain Sh9,281,655 in salaries between May 2011 and March 2024. He denied the charges.
The commission has also handled cases involving larger amounts of money.
In 2024, it charged a former Commission on Revenue Allocation employee who was accused of using forged master's and bachelor's degree certificates to earn Sh15,224,522 between August 2017 and July 2023.
The EACC said its work on academic certificate fraud goes beyond criminal cases, as it also seeks to recover public money and other benefits allegedly obtained through false qualifications.
In the latest cases, the commission said it would file civil proceedings to recover the salaries and other benefits allegedly received through the disputed certificates.
“The Commission will also institute civil proceedings to recover the salaries and other benefits allegedly obtained through the use of the fraudulent academic qualifications.”
The cases will now proceed through the courts, where the allegations against the two former public officers will be determined. Mwiti and Mukoya remain presumed innocent unless proven guilty.