Cook, Civilian Among 26 caught in KCSE Examinations Cheating Scandal

Police are now working to crack down on examination malpractice in the current Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, taking 26 more people involved in different forms of cheating in the country.

The most recent action brings the total number of arrests since the start of the national examinations to 71, which highlights the increased concern that the government has in ensuring that the integrity of the testing process is maintained.

The new arrests were confirmed to have consisted of a diverse group of suspects, with nine students, 15 examination officials, one school cook, as one civilian.

The inclusion of both inside and outside school system individuals brings into the spotlight the intricately growing networks that are employed in the act of exam cheating.

Among the institutions that were hit the most in the recent roundup was Oceania Junior Secondary School in Mombasa, which had the highest number of arrests.

The school had seven persons arrested.

Others who have been arrested are Centre Manager Edinah Furaha, invigilators Omar Rashid Mzungu, Collins Oduor Oteyo, Steven Kimani, Lucy Awino Odhiambo, and Mwanajuma Zami Chale, and even the cook in the school, Lina Owiti, who is suspected of having facilitated irregular activities during the exams.

The cases of exam malpractices also came out in Bungoma County, where St. Cecilia Girls High School, a number of invigilators; who were identified as Winny Musamala, Mercy Loponi, Annete Oswani, Rose Barasa, and Charles Wafula were arrested.

A civilian suspect, Alvin Nyongesa, was caught separately at Friend Kaptola Secondary School, which was linked to suspicious deeds involving the exam process.

There were other cases of malpractice in Migori County. In St. Anne’s Sunrise Girls High School, police detained Deputy Centre Manager Bernard Otieni and invigilator George Oudo on suspicion of irregularities.

Invigilators James Nyasani Nyakundi and Peter Odhiambo Sima were also caught at Agoro Sare Secondary School, to be added to the list of increasingly implicated exam officials in the cheating schemes. Such arrests follow recent events when the government has mobilized strict mechanisms to curb fraud in exams, especially by implementing intensive surveillance on online platforms.

Raising the level of government control in October, the Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo stated that a multi-agency team was put in place to monitor social media around the clock.

The project is meant to curb the distribution of counterfeit exams, malicious leakages, and online scams that take advantage of anxious parents, educators, and candidates. Omollo spoke on Wednesday, October 29, when he was giving a visit to a distribution centre in the Starehe sub-county, where exam papers were being distributed, that he was confident in the current administration of exams.

He praised the synchrony of the work of various government departments and said that the Ministry of Education, security forces, and local officials had coped with the process and reduced the amount of disruptions or large-scale incidents. Omollo has disclosed that the government has distributed over 600 examination containers in different sub-counties. These are the containers, which are under the joint control and management of Sub-County Directors of Education and Sub-County Security and Intelligence Committees to deliver and monitor exam papers to the students in time. On the issue of digital fraud, Omollo affirmed that the surveillance team is on the hunt to identify persons and online pages that falsely say they have or share KCSE papers.

He observed that most of these internet actors target unsuspecting students, parents and teachers at a fee by posing as fake materials. Omollo said there was a team of ICT department employees keeping watch on social media sites, whereby some individuals are posing as the disseminators of examination information or even making money out of unsuspecting victims.

He convinced students and teachers that the improved preparation and HIS measures could be sufficient to safeguard the integrity of the exams. The government insists that it is going to remain decisive to any person who tries to taint the integrity of the KCSE exams.

As dozens are already being arrested and investigations are being carried out, authorities re-affirmed their desire to make the national assessments credible, fair and not tainted by any manipulations.