PSC, KNEC roll out digital checks to tackle fake certificates in civil service

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has taken a major step to tackle the widespread use of fake academic certificates by partnering with the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to verify the qualifications of prospective civil servants in real time.

The move comes as the commission seeks to ensure that only qualified candidates are recruited into government positions.

Speaking on NTV on Tuesday, October 28, PSC Commissioner Francis Meja said the initiative is still in its pilot stage but promises to drastically reduce fraudulent applications.

In the new system, the databases of PSC and KNEC are directly connected, allowing the commission to use a candidate’s primary and secondary school index numbers to confirm the authenticity of certificates submitted during the application process.

“We have signed an agreement with the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC). Before your appointment, we will verify your certificates,” Meja stated.

He explained that the digital platform eliminates manual handling in certificate verification.

“And how will we do it? We want to interface our systems so that there is no manual intervention in the verification of certificates. The database is there, and KNEC has given us access to their database so that we just pick information as it is,” he added.

Meja highlighted that the system would prevent ineligible applicants from being recruited, a problem that has long plagued public service hiring. The initiative replaces the previous process where verification took place manually and often after a candidate had already been employed.

The PSC also plans to expand the verification system to include university degrees, covering Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD qualifications, through a similar partnership with the Commission for University Education (CUE).

“Once we create that database and link it, we will deal with this problem of fake academic certificates once and for all,” Meja assured.

The digital verification platform was launched by KNEC in July, with the PSC being the first government body to adopt it.

KNEC CEO David Njeng’ere had noted at the time that the Ministry of Interior would next implement the system before it is rolled out to private sector employers.

Kenya is dealing with an alarming increase in academic and professional certificate forgeries in the public sector, resulting in urgent calls for systemic reform and increased vigilance.

This disturbing trend was revealed at the 2025 Ethics and Integrity Conference in May 2025, where top government and anti-corruption officials warned of the far-reaching consequences if the problem is not addressed quickly.

According to data shared by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the scale of the fraud is staggering.

Other Topics To Read

• Headlines
• Education
• EACC
• KNEC
• Fake Certificates
• PSC
• fake academic papers
• CUE
• Forged certificates
• PSC
• KNEC roll out digital checks to tackle fake certificates in civil service

Since 2022, the commission has investigated 549 cases of forged academic and professional credentials. Of these, 85 files have been forwarded for prosecution, resulting in 13 convictions and 7 acquittals.

Beyond legal action, the EACC is also pursuing recovery of salaries and benefits obtained fraudulently by individuals who gained employment using fake documents.

A verification exercise conducted across 91 public institutions has so far unearthed 1,208 forged certificates from a sample of 53,000 cases submitted to the Kenya National Resources Region Council.

The investigation continues, but early findings show the most egregious fraud is concentrated in state corporations and senior government agencies, which account for approximately 70 per cent of the reported forgeries, followed by public universities with 116 cases.

Koskei further revealed that 787 officers in tertiary institutions were found to have used fake documents to secure appointments, promotions, or resignations.

The forgery spans all levels of education, from secondary schools and TVETs to both local and international universities.

The 2023–2024 national values report also painted a dire picture: among 358 institutions that conducted certification audits for 168,000 officers, 859 individuals were confirmed to hold fake academic certificates, while 160 others possessed fraudulent professional credentials. Alarmingly, 24,000 officers had not been certified at all.

The introduction of the digital verification system is now seen as a key step towards cleaning up the public sector and restoring trust in Kenya’s recruitment processes.