Two govt officials handed six years in jail for forging certificates to get jobs
The Rural Electrification Authority (REA), which is in charge of accelerating the pace of rural electrification to promote development in the country is one of the agencies that has been recommended for dissolution.
Two government officials attached to the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (Rerec) have been jailed for six years by the anti-corruption court in Kisumu for forging documents to secure the State jobs four years ago.
Pauline Anyango Otieno and Lilian Akoth Ochieng were found guilty of forging education certificates for Mount Kenya University (MKU) and Kenya Institute of Management (KIMs) to gain employment and promotions as officers in the procurement department at the State corporation in 2018.
According to the judgment delivered by magistrate Teresa Odera after a plea bargain between the Prosecution and the Defence, Ms Otieno will spend two-and-half years in prison while Ms Ochieng will serve for three-and-half years for the offences.
The court gave them an alternative of paying a fine of Sh228,698 and Sh271,901 respectively.
The court also ordered them to refund all salaries earned during the employment on fake certificates.
According to evidence adduced in court by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC), Ms Otieno forged a Certificate in Procurement from MKU while Ms Ochieng forged both a Diploma (Purchasing and Supplies) and Certificate (Purchasing and Supplies Management) both awarded by KIMs
They were employed at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation in 2018.
Before formal employment, they had worked in the Corporation for eight years as casual employees. They were formally employed as Supplies Assistants after forging the said academic certificates. Prior to investigations by the EACC, they had served for two months in their new positions.
They were arrested on August 22 and April 26, 2021, respectively, and the plea bargain negotiations started in January 2022.
They faced criminal charges such as forgery, providing false information to a public entity, deceiving a public entity, uttering a false document and fraudulent acquisition of public property being the cumulative salary earned on forged certificates.
