The Public Service Commission (PSC) has directed all government ministries, departments, agencies, and public institutions to conduct a fresh audit of academic and professional certificates for every civil servant, in a new crackdown on forged qualifications.
The verification exercise, which previously targeted officers hired from 2012 onwards, will now cover all public servants regardless of when they joined the service.
The PSC says the move is necessary to restore integrity in public service recruitment and promotion, following mounting evidence of widespread academic fraud.
“The integrity of Kenya’s public service is directly tied to the authenticity of the qualifications of those who serve. We can no longer ignore the reality that a section of the workforce may have entered the service through deceit,” the commission stated in a circular dated October 2025.
Under the new directive, all civil servants must authenticate their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), and diploma certificates issued by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) by October 18. The verification will be conducted through the KNEC online portal at https://qmis.knec.ac.ke.
Institutional heads and authorized officers have been instructed to notify staff and provide administrative support for the exercise. Principals of national polytechnics, technical training institutes, and vocational colleges have also been urged to comply. Failure to do so may attract disciplinary action under PSC regulations.
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The commission warned that academic forgery has distorted merit-based hiring and allowed unqualified individuals to occupy key public offices. Investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have previously uncovered cases of fake degrees and unaccredited diplomas used to secure high-ranking positions.
Earlier the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) had raised alarm over the proliferation of fraudulent academic papers, citing the sale of fake degrees by rogue institutions both locally and abroad. The authority warned that the trend posed a serious threat to Kenya’s global academic reputation.
All institutions are expected to submit verification reports to the commission once the exercise is complete.
By Masaki Enock
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