NAIROBI, Kenya- A Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) driver has been ordered to pay Sh7.54 million after being convicted of using a forged academic certificate to secure employment.
Milimani Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Celesa Okore convicted Kelly Gichuri Muiruri on four counts in a judgment delivered on October 29, 2026.
He was acquitted of a separate forgery charge.
The court ordered Muiruri to pay Sh6,742,673 in compensation for salaries he received from November 2016 to December 2023, or serve four years in prison if he fails to pay.
He was also fined Sh800,000 across the four counts.
The fines were Sh300,000 for fraudulently acquiring public property, Sh200,000 for uttering a false document, Sh200,000 for deceiving a principal and Sh100,000 for presenting a forged certificate.
The court directed that the prison terms attached to the fines run consecutively.
Court found certificate showed a higher grade
The court found that Muiruri presented a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate indicating he had attained a mean grade of C plain in the 2002 examination, while his actual grade was D plain.
The charge sheet states that the certificate was presented to NCWSC in September 2016. It also alleges that Muiruri declared he had a C plain grade on a company personal information form the following month.
The court convicted him of fraudulently acquiring public property, uttering a false document, deceiving a principal and presenting a forged certificate.
It acquitted him of forgery.
The case followed investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) after a report that Muiruri had used a forged academic certificate to obtain employment at the water company.
The commission said it completed its investigations and forwarded the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions with recommendations for prosecution.
The EACC said the compensation order covered salaries paid to Muiruri during the period in question. The KSh800,000 in fines brings the total financial orders to Sh7,542,673.
The commission urged employers to verify academic and professional qualifications during recruitment, saying the checks help protect public resources and uphold integrity in public service.
