Nairobi
Faced with glaring evidence of massive Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination leakage, top officials of the examining body returned to their offices on a weekend to re-assure furious parents and teachers that the exam was still credible.
There were angry reactions from across the country, with all stakeholders calling for the overhaul of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).
And police in Kilifi, the epicentre of the leakage, moved swiftly and arrested 10 people, including a secondary school principal and five candidates suspected of playing a key role in the exams leakage scandal .
Deputy officer commanding Kilifi police division, Mr Nehemia Lang’at, confirmed his officers had arrested the principal and the candidates from the same school.
Reporters bought English and Physics papers
Lang’at said the police were also holding a manager and three employees of a local bureau in Kilifi, where some papers of the leaked examinations were impounded.
In a faxed statement KNEC Secretary Mr Paul M Wasanga said police, the Ministry of Education and KNEC had commenced investigations and the culprits, if convicted, would face imprisonment, fines or both.
“We wish to inform the public that any person who gains access to the examinations material and knowingly reveals the contents, whether orally or in writing shall be guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment or fine or both”, said Wasanga.
KNEC did not deny exclusive reports by our sister publication,The Saturday Standard, in which we detailed how a cartel of greedy people was selling KCSE examinations papers at prices ranging between Sh5,000 and Sh15,000.
Our reporters bought English and Physics examination papers hours before they were given to the candidates. They were assured that they could get any other paper so long as they had the money.
Papers have been on sale since exams started
Wasanga did not explain how the examination papers had been sneaked out of the 567 strong rooms countrywide, which are guarded around the clock.
The examinations, we established, are usually leaked long before they are distributed to the countryside. Sources indicate that the examinations are usually leaked by examiners during the proofreading stage.
Although Wasanga said the leaked examination papers were sold on Thursday, our investigations reveal that the KCSE papers have been on sale since the exams started.
Lang’at said the arrest of the 10 people and the ongoing crackdown would assist police to arrest all suspects behind the circulation and selling of the examination papers.
He said police officers on Friday stormed the secondary school and carried checks on the students who were sitting the chemistry theory paper.
The officers found one student had a paper with hand written answers .
Another student was arrested after he attempted to swallow a paper which also had answers for the same paper.
