Artisan Faces Charges for Earning KSh 5M with Forged Certificate

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has brought charges against an artisan working for the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, accusing him of receiving KSh 5 million through a Form Four certificate he fabricated in 1997. Joshua Attuah Omia was presented before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on multiple charges including fraudulent acquisition of public property, forgery, uttering a false document, deceiving his employer, and presenting a forged certificate. According to court proceedings, between August 2015 and December 31, 2023, while employed as an artisan at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited, the suspect unlawfully obtained public funds amounting to KSh 5,909,037.10 through salary payments after securing his position using a counterfeit KCSE certificate that he claimed was issued by KNEC and which the company utilized for his hiring. Additional charges against him included fabricating a KCSE certificate with a mean grade of C minus, representing it as authentic from the Kenya National Examination Council, as well as presenting a false document bearing KCSE certificate number KSCE518142 under the name Omia A. Joshua. The DPP also pressed further charges of deceiving his employer and submitting a forged certificate to obtain employment. It is alleged that on approximately July 27, 2015, at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company within Nairobi County, the accused, who was a public employee, deliberately misled his employer by claiming to possess a Form IV qualification with a C minus grade from Etete Secondary School obtained between 1994 and 1997, information he included in his personnel record form and submitted to Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company for updating his employment records. The defendant entered a plea of not guilty to all charges and was granted release on a bond of Ksh.1 million with a similar surety and cash bail of Ksh. 300,000. The case will be mentioned again on May 27, 2027.