NAIROBI, Kenya — The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has charged a former employee of the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited (NCWSC) accused of forging her academic certificates to fraudulently secure employment and unlawfully obtain public funds totaling Sh8.3 million.
In a statement released on Monday, November 10, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said investigations revealed that the former employee, identified as Asembo, used a falsified Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate to secure a position as an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) assistant at the utility firm.
According to the EACC, the forged document appeared to have been issued by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) but was later confirmed to be fake.
The commission said the suspect used the forged qualification to earn salaries and benefits amounting to Sh8,337,563.95 during her tenure at the company.
“Upon completion of the investigations, the Commission forwarded the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who reviewed the evidence and approved the charges against the suspect,” the EACC said.
Asembo appeared before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court, where she faced several counts, including fraudulent acquisition of public property, deceiving a principal contrary to Section 41(2) as read with Section 48(1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003, and forgery contrary to Sections 345 and 349 of the Penal Code, as well as uttering a false document under Section 353 of the same code.
EACC disclosed that the accused was first arrested on September 3, 2025, and released on Sh25,000 cash bail pending her arraignment two days later. However, she failed to appear in court on the scheduled date and went into hiding, prompting the court to issue a warrant of arrest.
She was eventually apprehended and arraigned, where she denied all the charges. The court released her on a Sh1 million bond with two sureties of a similar amount pending trial.
“EACC reaffirms its commitment to combating fraud and safeguarding integrity within the public service sector,” the statement read.
The commission emphasized that cases involving forged academic credentials remain a major integrity concern in public institutions, where unqualified individuals unlawfully benefit from public funds and compromise service delivery.
The arraignment comes just a week after the same court convicted and fined another NCWSC senior clerk who had used a falsified KCSE certificate to secure employment in 2011. The clerk was found guilty of defrauding the institution of over Sh8.2 million in salaries and benefits earned over more than a decade.
He was sentenced to pay a fine equivalent to the amount lost — Sh8,243,562 — or serve four years in prison. Additionally, the court imposed Sh100,000 fines for the charges of deceiving a principal and presenting a false certificate, with alternative two-year jail terms for each count.
The EACC reiterated that such prosecutions are part of ongoing efforts to enforce accountability, strengthen ethical standards in the public sector, and deter fraudulent practices that drain public resources.
