A former member of the Kiambu County Assembly has been sentenced to four years in prison for forgery.
Robert Kibe Githongo, the immediate former MCA for Kiamwangi Ward, had been accused of forging his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) certificate in 2014, purporting it was a genuine document issued by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).
Appearing before Milimini Anti-corruption Court on Monday, November 7, Githongo was found guilty of two offences including making a false document contrary to section 347(a) as read with section 349 of the Penal Code, and uttering a false document contrary to section 353 of the Penal Code.
The court sentenced the former ward representative to four years in jail or pay a fine of Ksh500,000, Ksh250,000 for each of the two offences.
Githongo was arrested by detectives from the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) in October 2019 for providing false information to the commission.
Fake KCSE certificate
In 2017, KNEC rejected Githongo's KCSE certificate saying it was fake.
The certificate indicated that Githongo sat his KCSE exam at Murera Secondary School in 1997 under index number 11235102/008.
KNEC, at the time, said the index number did not exist in its database.
It is not clear how the accused was allowed to successfully vie for Kiamwangi ward seat in 2017 with a forged certificate.
Before his election, Gathongo was the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) chairperson for Gatundu South Constituency.
He was also a pastor with the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) at the time of the 2017 election.
Forgery cases
Githongo was among several leaders battling cases in court over allegations of forgery of academic certificates.
Other politicians dragged to court recently over forgery include Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, governors Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi), Wavinya Ndeti (Machakos) and Gender and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa.
Sudi is accused of presenting the forged education papers to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) when he sought nomination for the 2013 general election.
The prosecution said his Diploma Certificate in Business Management, allegedly issued by the Kenya Institute of Management, was forged.
He is also accused of forging his KCSE certificate purporting to be a genuine document issued by the Kenya National Examination council.
The court heard that he committed the offence on January 31, 2013, at IEBC offices in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
Last year, John Matsheshe, a former Head of Examinations at Kenya Institute of Management told the Anti-Corruption Court that the Kapsaret MP was never their student and that the Diploma certificate in question belongs to Elkanah K. Kimutai, a former student of the institute.
While testifying in the ongoing hearing of the forgery case, he further revealed that an admission number captured in a copy of the certificate presented to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission belonged to a woman who was a student at the institution in 2005.
“The admission number NRB/20879 belongs to Scholastica Achieng Odhiambo of Diploma in Management of NGOs .The student was registered in 2005,” John said.
Sudi maintained that he will prove that the allegations are not true even as he chided his critics over the usefulness of their degrees.
"I see a lot of busybodies bragging over their Degrees. They claim that I didn't go to school and that the authenticity of my certificates is questionable. Have the papers helped you put food on the table for your kids?" Sudi posed.
He said the critics should go easy on the case and allow the court to do its work. The matter is yet to be concluded.
