Pastor-turned MCA Robert Githongo faces jail for forging academic papers

The Anti-Corruption Court in Milimani has fined former Kiamwangi Ward Representative Robert Kibe Githongo Sh500,000 for forging academic papers. Mr Githongo will serve four years in jail in default. 

The former MCA was convicted by Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Okoo after being found guilty of two criminal offences of forging and presenting the fake certificates. 

He forged a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) paper, while purporting it to be genuine, and presented the same to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).  He eventually graduated in 2016 with a Diploma in Governance and Leadership.

Trouble started when presented the diploma certificate from JKUAT before the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in 2017 while seeking a certificate of integrity ahead of the General Election. 

In 2019, EACC recommended his prosecution, saying he had forged academic documents to join JKUAT for a leadership programme. The DPP concurred with the commission’s recommendation and took him to court.

EACC had recommended that he be charged with making a false document contrary to section 347 (a) as read together with Section 349 of the Penal Code and uttering a false document contrary to Section 353 of the Penal Code. 

In court, EACC argued that the certificate indicated that Mr Kibe sat his KCSE exam at Murera Secondary School in 1997. However, the index number provided was found to be nonexistent, according to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).

KNEC confirmed that the KCSE certificate was fake and that JKUAT's senate had withdrawn the diploma certificate issued to him in 2017. 

Additional report by Simon Ciuri