Raila wants fresh test for KCSE exam cheats

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Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Photo/FILE 

By CAROLINE WAFULA cwafula@ke.nationmedia.com AND PMPS
Posted  Tuesday, April 10  2012 at  22:30

IN SUMMARY

• PM criticises the national exams council over rise in irregularities

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has asked the national examinations council to administer fresh tests for 3,000 candidates whose Form Four results for last year were nullified.

The PM also criticised the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) over continued leakage of national exams and said action should be taken against those who abetted the leakage.

According to Knec, Northern Kenya region had 1,600 exam cheats.

Addressing a public rally at Garissa Primary School grounds on Tuesday, Mr Odinga said: “Officials of examinations council who are found culpable should also be disciplined alongside the concerned students,” he said.

And appearing before the parliamentary education committee yesterday, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere called for thorough investigations before exam results are released to establish facts about irregularities.

Mr Iteere said it was difficult to tell whether some of the council officials could be trusted with handling the crucial examinations.

“The police should be consulted when appointing these officers,” he said.

Knec has invited stakeholder input to further enrich the new law expected to reform the system of national examinations administration by jailing those who cheat and those who abet the cheating.

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Mr Iteere said impersonation of candidates and smuggling of illegal material into examinations rooms remained a common offence.

“The council should form a team of experts to review the administrative and legal laws to strengthen the examination system,” he said.

To avoid cases of collusion between police officers and exam officials, the police boss advised Knec to buy containers to be placed in police stations for storage of exam material.

The keys should be given to education officers so that they take full responsibility for the containers’ security.

The committee also held a closed door session with the Director of National Security Intelligence Service on the matter.