How Fake Certificates Cost the Govt Billions
How Fake Certificates Cost the Govt Billions
How Fake Certificates Cost the Govt Billions
According to our investigation, staff members using forged academic credentials have cost the government, led by President William Ruto, more than Ksh9 billion in losses.
This information came to light after President Ruto declared that more than 2,100 workers had entered the public service industry using forged academic credentials.
This enormous amount is greater than the equitable share that all but seven counties received in the fiscal year that ended in June 2022, to put it into perspective.
The bureaucratic corridors of Kenya have long been plagued by the threat of counterfeit credentials.
But President Ruto’s administration has taken a firm stand, requesting that those in the public service who have forged certificates step down and pay back the government for money they have earned through deceit.
The majority of Kenya’s large public sector workforce, thousands of support workers, are expected to be negatively impacted by this crackdown.
The government’s efforts to address the spiraling public wage bill will initially target casual workers and public servants with fictitious academic credentials.
This information came to light after the 2024 National Wage Bill conference, which resulted in important decisions that, if put into effect, could have a significant impact on Kenya’s public sector.
The most important of these resolutions is the requirement that all federal, state, and local government agencies perform thorough assessments of their personnel establishments to make sure that they comply with legally mandated skill requirements.
A thorough audit that was started by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in October 2022 is at the center of this dispute.
2,067 fake professional and academic credentials were found to have been used during the previous ten years to obtain jobs in government institutions, according to this audit.
The Ministry of Interior is at the top of the list with the highest percentage of employees with questionable qualifications. Strict adherence was required by the audit, which covered 331 organizations and included ministries, state departments, agencies, state corporations, semi-autonomous bodies, and public universities.
Still, only a small percentage of the institutions followed the audit’s recommendations. A significant 1,280 out of the 58,599 cases that were examined were identified as forgeries, highlighting how widespread this malpractice is.
Furthermore, a disturbing discovery was made about 787 officers from various ministries, state departments, and agencies who used forged documents to get promotions and appointments.
How Ksh9.25 billion was arrived at
A thorough expenditure analysis was conducted in order to determine the extent of the financial losses that the government had to bear as a result of employees possessing forged certificates. The average salary of civil servants in the highest and lowest job grades is one of the two key figures in this analysis.
Civil servants in the highest job grade receive an average of Ksh12,997 from the government, while those in the lowest job group receive roughly Ksh434,442. When these numbers are combined with the Public Service Commission’s disclosure that 2,067 people had forged credentials, a startling truth becomes apparent.
According to the computation, the government has lost an incredible Ksh9.25 billion during President Ruto’s twenty-month term in office. But when you use President Ruto’s marginally higher estimate of 2,100 people with forged certificates, the losses increase to Ksh9.4 billion, emphasizing how serious the situation is.
In order to guarantee a thorough comprehension, a situation was envisioned in which every one of the 2,067 participants was assigned to the smallest job category. According to this scenario, the government would have lost Ksh537 million in that same time frame. Conversely, the losses would still be about Ksh9.25 billion if these workers were thought to be part of the higher job groups.
Effect
These astronomical losses have significant and far-reaching effects. Notably, the amount lost exceeds the yearly budgetary allotments for most counties. In the fiscal year 2021–2022, only seven counties received more than Ksh9 billion.
The Ministry of Education could undertake a revolutionary project by building over 30,000 classrooms to house Junior Secondary School (JSS) students if it had Ksh9.25 billion at its disposal.
Moreover, the Ksh3.9 billion allotted for the building of 15,021 classrooms by December 2023 is insignificant compared to the possible impact of Ksh9.25 billion.
Furthermore, the lost money could have gone toward paying the National Health Insurance Fund’s (NHIF) outstanding debts to private hospitals. Approximately 400 rural hospitals owe Ksh6.1 billion; the Ministry of Health’s Ksh9.25 billion allocation could ease the financial burden on these essential healthcare providers.
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the discovery that Ksh9 billion could put a major dent in the nation’s wage bill, given that State Departments and Agencies (MDAs) paid out Ksh19.61 billion in salaries in March 2024.
Although the precise amount of money lost by the government is unknown, our analysis reveals that President Ruto may have more money to allocate to some of his preferred projects, such as affordable housing, if the workers using forged certificates reimburse the government.
