Fazul Mahamed was hired as NGOs Coordination Board CEO despite lacking qualifications, the EACC has declared after fresh investigations.
On December 16, 2016, the EACC forwarded a report to the DPP on administrative action against Mahamed over claims he was not qualified.
On January 4, DPP Keriako Tobiko returned the file to the commission recommending further investigations. The probe culminated into the latest findings.
In a gazette notice dated March 31, the commission said it had finished its inquiry into allegations that Mahamed forged a certificate to secure the job.
"Investigations revealed that by the time the CEO was being appointed, he did not have a degree certificate which was a basic requirement for the position," the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said.
"[This meant] he was not qualified for the position during the time of his appointment."
The anti-graft agency said it sought to obtain the forged certificate Mahamed presented but that it was untraceable.
"It was suspected that it may have been removed from his personal file and concealed. In the absence of the certificate, a prosecution against him could not be sustained," EACC said.
The board’s executive director is required to have served for 10 years in public service and hold a master’s degree. The latest findings are expected to pave way for the removal of Mahamed, also known as
Mahamed Yusuf, from office.
This not the first time the CEO's degree has been dismissed. In a report last November, the Commission on Administrative Justice recommended Mahamed's immediate sacking. It also wanted him barred from holding public office saying he was hired despite lacking academic documents.
The report also recommended that he refund Sh8.5 million earned as cumulative salary because he had shamed the government.
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Mid 2015, Professor SFO Owido,
Egerton University Registrar of Academic Affairs, said 'Mahamed Yusuf', as Mahamed was known in college, was discontinued by the Senate on
August 26, 2010 while he was a third year student.
In a letter to the National Council of NGOs dated September 10, Owido said Mahamed was
admitted as a regular student in 2007 to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree.
He changed the course through an inter-faculty transfer on September 27, 2007, before was discontinued for failing 50 per cent or more of all the credit factors taken in the ordinary exams of one academic year.
But Mahamed's CV
shows he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 2009.
When contacted by the Star, Fazul dismissed this as malice saying people affected by his attempt to clean up the NGO were peddling rumours to tarnish his name. He said records of his academic qualifications were available for verification.
Fazul has been in the limelight for what has been termed the arbitrary shutdown of civil society groups. Lobbyists have also said this is an intimidation tactic against organisations that are critical of the Jubilee government.
Mahamed was once accused of opening branches countrywide and posting interns on full pay.
He caused another storm through an email in which he transferred HR manager Josephine Ngatia to the Garissa regional office after questioning payment of allowances to interns.
Sources said he made the changes to silence staff members who have been complaining of mismanagement.
The CEO's latest troubles concern Wiper leader and NASA vice president candidate Kalonzo Musyoka's foundation.
The board said the Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation received Sh50 million from China that could not be traced and could not account for a total of
Sh146 million.
Kalonzo said Mahamed must resign for turning the board into a one-man show and that he "doesn't even have papers".
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