Nairobi Water employee fined Sh5 million for using fake UoN degree

A Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) revenue collection assistant  has been fined Sh 5 million in default to serve three years in prison for using a forged University of Nairobi degree to land his job.

Milimani Anti-Corruption Court Senior Principal Magistrate Celesa Asis Okore convicted and sentenced Okandah William John on three of four counts he faced, after ruling that a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting Option) degree he submitted to secure employment at NCWSC in 2016 was never issued by the University of Nairobi.

The magistrate found he defrauded the public utility of nearly Sh4.75 million in salary over seven years.

"The prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused person in three counts as charged herein in counts 1, 3, and 4," the magistrate ruled.

The court heard that Okandah claimed to have graduated from UoN on December 4, 1998.

But the university's Senior Quality Assurance Officer, Dr Michael Mwareri Wangai, testified that Okandah's name did not appear anywhere in the institution's student records, and that UoN held only one graduation ceremony that year,  on November 30, 1998, a Friday, not December 4.

Okandah was among 162 NCWSC employees whose certificates were forwarded to their respective institutions for verification, after which three, including his, came back flagged as forged.

He was employed as a Revenue Collection Assistant on August 3, 2016 and worked until his dismissal in November 2023, earning a total of Sh4,749,597 in salary during that period.

In her judgment, Magistrate Okore held that the money Okandah earned amounted to fraudulently acquired public property.

"It is therefore my considered opinion that the salary/service/benefit that the accused earned was public property. It was obtained as a result of the forged certificate which was an unlawful means," She ruled.

The court acquitted Okandah of the actual forgery charge, finding that while the certificate was proven fake, the prosecution had not established that he personally falsified it, noting the absence of forensic evidence directly linking him to the act of forgery.

He was, however, convicted of uttering a false document and of deceiving his employer by providing false academic information.

"The move by the accused in submitting the forged degree certificate was uncalled for and unnecessary since it was not a requirement in the first place," Okore stated.

Okore ordered Okandah to pay a fine of Sh100,000, in default 12 months, on the fraudulent acquisition count, in addition to Sh4,749,597 as compensation for the salary he fraudulently earned.

He was further fined Sh100,000, in default 12 months, on the uttering charge, and another Sh100,000, in default 12 months, on the deceiving-principal charge, the sentences to run consecutively.

Defence lawyer Wakio Ombis had pleaded for a non-custodial sentence under Section 48 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, noting Okandah was a first offender and had prepared an appeal.

Ombis also sought his client's release to attend a relative's burial scheduled for June 5.

"Since the court is a functus officio in this case, I do hereby decline to grant the accused's application to be allowed to attend a burial," the magistrate said.

Cash bail of Sh200,000 paid during trial was ordered refunded to the depositor.

Okandah was granted 14 days to appeal.