Nairobi — The Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) says it is investigating over 150 cases of academic certificates forgery by public services employees.
The commission has further called on employers as well as higher learning institutions in the country to employ stronger background checks as well as internal controls in a bid to curb what it terms as a rapidly growing phenomenon that is deeply rooted in the country.
EAC Director of Preventive Services Vincent Okong’o averred that the Commission is seized of the matter and working round the clock to mitigate it.
“In some cases, accused persons have been jailed or fined while in others, EACC has been granted orders by the court to recover all the salaries and benefits earned based on forged academic certificates,” he said.
At the same time, EACC has vowed to step up its aggression against corrupt individuals in the country, promising to go for all corrupt individuals regardless of their carder in the society.
“We are going to go for those people who use their offices to steal public resources. We will go for the small fish because small fish are dangerous. They eat in small bits but the damage is enormous,” said EACC chairperson David Oginde.
Oginde further called on the political class to desist from politicizing the war against graft, adding that corruption is universal.
His statements were echoed by the Prime Cabinet Secretary who advised politicians to cooperate with the investigative agencies to see to it that ill-gotten wealth is repatriated back to the state.
“If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about. Let the investigative agencies do their work because they are professionals,” he said.
The commission through its chairperson further called for an increase in its fund allocation opining that a well resourced EACC will find it easier to deal with corruption cases in a seamless manner.
EACC says it has a deficit of 15.62 billion, an amount it has asked the government to allocate for its smooth operations even as it launched its 5-year strategic plan that is set to guide it from 2023 to 2028.
