The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission last week crowed triumphantly that it had completed investigating five civil servants who used forged academic credentials to secure jobs or promotions, and their cases had been forwarded to the chief public prosecutor’s office for processing.

The deception was discovered after the suspects had earned millions of shillings in salaries over several years, including one case where taxpayers paid a Kenya Rural Roads Authority middle manager more than Ksh40 million.  

Earlier news reports indicated that about 450 civil servants were dismissed in the 2023-2024 financial year alone over fake academic certificates.

Other recent reports suggested that at least 250,000 of Kenya’s nearly 900,000 civil servants may hold forged certificates. The numbers speak for themselves. We know we are a rotten society, but where exactly are the failures happening?  

Besides the forgers, there are two other partners in this dirty dance: the hiring institutions and the schools whose names appeared on the submitted fake certificates.

That these many forgeries ‘succeeded’ points to deep institutional weaknesses on several fronts.  

On the hiring institutions’ side, verification processes, if they exist, must be extremely weak. Many public sector employers appear to accept certificates at face value without properly authenticating them.

It could be that no verification rules exist at all, or, if they do, they are routinely ignored.

As for academic institutions, the scandal reveals that universities have poor security regarding the issuing of certificates, making these forgeries easier to create or obtain.

There’s another element: We Kenyans are notorious for our emphasis on formal qualifications.

That’s why we obsess about padding our CVs – seeking ever more certifications, like squirrels collecting seeds. There’s no greater incentive to cheat.  

The EACC appears to be doing something about the crisis.

In a public statement, CEO Abdi A. Mohamud said that besides criminal proceedings against the five suspects, the agency will “initiate civil recovery processes in court to recover all salaries, allowances, and benefits fraudulently acquired.”

But Kenya can do a lot more to prevent corruption in general besides prosecution and asset forfeiture.

For anti-corruption models that work, we need not look further than Rwanda and Singapore – tiny countries that have built better systems and created environments where corruption is truly risky and socially unacceptable.  

In Singapore’s case, public service jobs are highly well-paid, and the city-state has created a culture where getting caught means social and economic ruin.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau reports directly to the Prime Minister and has extraordinary powers – it can investigate anyone, including the PM himself.

Rwanda, meanwhile, exploited post-genocide harmony and strong central authority to fight graft.

President Paul Kagame made anti-corruption a major pillar of national rebuilding after the tragic events of 1994, and zero tolerance starts at the very top. Kigali enforces mandatory asset declarations for public officials and regular lifestyle audits.

Earlier this year, Transparency International named Rwanda among the five least corrupt countries in Africa for 2024 (on a list that included Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, and Seychelles).

Singapore was ranked the third least corrupt country in the world (after Denmark and Finland). Is anyone surprised?

The writer is a Sub-Editor with People Daily.