A previous senior employee of the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) has been detained and accused of forging Academic records in an effort to get employment.

Agents of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) apprehended Zinje Jumaa Mwadama before bringing him before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on Thursday.

According to a source at the EACC, Mwadama made a total income of Ksh. 4,746,834.38 while employed as an assistant inspector at KEPHIS, a position she obtained using false documentation.

The person being charged was presented with 12 counts of criminal offences when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Felix Kombo, including forged documents, uttering fake papers, giving false information to a public organisation, and dishonest acquiring of public property resulting from the falsification of four academic credentials.

The Kilifi Institute of Agriculture (Pwani University), the Baraka Agricultural College in Molo, and the KCSE certificate that Mwadama presented to the court were all discovered to be faked. 

Mwadama also presented a diploma in Sustainable Agriculture and rural development from Pwani University.

Additionally, he reportedly falsified academic records from the Kilifi Institute of Agriculture (Pwani University) in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.

However, the person charged refuted all of the allegations and was freed on a Ksh. 3 million bonds or Ksh. 250,000 in cash bail. The matter will be brought up on June 8, 2023.

Since then, the commission has issued a warning against the rise in academic fraud cases, saying that there are already over 150 instances of forgery involving members of the public sector.

EACC advised companies and educational institutions to be very vigilant in order to stop the crime, while also noting that 14 of the aforementioned instances are now ongoing in court.