A move by a senior employee of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) admitting that she had submitted forged documents for employment has led to her suspension from employment.
Authorities are now investigating Loise Nyambura Wamburu, a Personal Secretary I at Parliament over alleged forgery of academic documents.
She is under probe after a series of letters she wrote to her superiors triggered disciplinary and criminal investigations.
What began as a plea for leniency has escalated into a full investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), with her correspondence interpreted as a possible admission of guilt.
She has since been suspended indefinitely without pay.
The matter dates back to December 4, 2024. Then, the PSC notified Wamburu that a routine verification exercise had uncovered a fraudulent academic certificate in her personnel file.
The document in question was a Business Education Examination certificate from Gakeo College of Business Studies, allegedly obtained in 2022.
In its letter, PSC stated that the certificate was a forgery and not an authentic document issued by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC). It warned that forgery is a criminal offence that could lead to prosecution and termination of employment.
She was given seven days to respond, and her salary was immediately stopped.
In her response dated December 11, 2024, Wamburu did not directly deny the allegations.
Instead, she expressed regret over “the circumstances of the single paper in question”. She also appealed for consideration of her other academic and professional qualifications.
“I highly regret the circumstances of the single paper in question and kindly request that you consider my other academic and professional qualifications at the point of employment which qualified me to perform the functions of a Personal Secretary. I humbly request for leniency on the matter at hand. Sir, I am willing to continue serving as a Secretary at the scale which I was employed with using my academic qualifications,” she said in her letter dated December 11, 2024.
On January 8, 2025, the PSC suspended her through a letter signed by Senate Clerk J.M. Nyegenye, citing provisions of the PSC Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual.
“In view of the foregoing and pursuant to Clause 15.5.2 (d) and (f) of the Parliamentary Service Commission Human Resource Policies and Procedure Manual, it has been decided that you should be and are hereby suspended from exercising the functions of your office with immediate effect pending the consideration and determination of the matter by the Parliamentary Service Commission.”
In a subsequent letter dated January 31, 2025, Wamburu clarified that her earlier plea was not an admission of wrongdoing. She claimed the disputed certificate could be the result of a malicious scheme or vendetta. She insisted that she had never seen or submitted the document.
DCI sources also confirmed a forgery complaint has been filed, with investigators reviewing her employment records dating back to 2016.
There was no immediate comment from Wamburu on the issue.
Furthermore, under Kenyan law, forgery carries a prison term of up to seven years.
The case also adds to dozens that are under probe on claims of forgery of academic papers.
Both the DCI and the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission are investigating the cases.
