President William Ruto has ordered public servants who occupy public offices using fake certificates to vacate the offices before he cracks the whip.
According to Ruto, an estimated 2,100 public servants fabricated their educational credentials in order to obtain government jobs deepening the corruption menace in the public sector further hampering national development..
Speaking as he closed the third wage bill conference, President Ruto has directed the officers to pay back the taxpayers all the money they obtained through false pretenses.
“We must deal firmly with corruption. There is a lot of wastage and theft in the public space. We can put more resources into development and I think we have now stabilised what we needed to stabilise. We will now confront corruption, head on, going forward,” he said.
“A simple audit has revealed that we have 2,100 people with fake certificates working for government.”
“Those who have earned money using fake certificates should refund us our public money. Isn’t it the equivalent of obtaining money by false pretence? They should leave, resign and go away and look for money to pay us the public resources that they have earned falsely,” said Ruto.
“We must do what we must do and I intend to do this. If the country is going to get where we want it to go, we must get the country where it is supposed to go.”
Ruto’s sentiments were echoed by Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua who noted the government could save up to billions of shillings from public servants occupying offices using fake certificates.