EACC on the spot over delayed investigations

Nyamira Deputy Governor Amos Nyaribo. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has come under sharp criticism over alleged delayed investigation to establish if some of the academic certificates presented by county staff were fake.

This follows suspension of 31 county employees confirmed by the county government to have used fake credentials to secure employment within the devolved unit.

Last Thursday, Deputy Governor Amos Nyaribo sent home the officials and recommended their prosecution for having presented fake certificates to get jobs.

According to Mr Nyaribo, the county had forwarded 535 Form Four certificates to the Kenya National Examinations Council for verification and it turned out that 31 were not authentic.

In February 2017, EACC started the probe on fake certificates within the county government but has not yielded much.

This has led civil society groups in Nyamira to raise questions over the pace of investigation into the matter.

Charles Ondieki, a civil rights activist, asked why EACC had taken long to make public its probe findings. “EACC has been coming to Nyamira and staging shows from which we have never seen any fruit by someone being implicated or someone being jailed for breaking the law,” Mr Ondieki said.

When contacted for comment over the allegations, EACC’s South Nyanza Regional Coordinator Abraham Kemboi said he was not in a position to give any brief concerning the investigations since he was away from office.

However, even as the matter continued to unfold, county head of criminal intelligence Victor Thangalani denied claims that the county government sanctioned criminal proceedings against the 31.

“We are the investigating agency and we have a wider background about the matters relating to the ongoing investigations. All that we are doing is verifying with the parties mentioned,” Mr Thangalani said.

According to Thangalani, his office has been investigating the matter since last year.

He warned against politicising the cases.