The National Assembly  Departmental Committee on Education  chaired by Hon. Julius Melly (Tinderet) met the Judiciary in the ongoing investigations into allegations of cheating in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2022.

The Judiciary proposed  the enactment of Legislation to provide guidelines for investigation, prosecution, hearing and judgement on examination cheating cases, by putting timelines within which the cases must be concluded. 

The Committee also met with officials from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, ; represented by Ms. Dorcas Oduor, the Secretary of Public Prosecutions.

Hon. Melly noted that over the years cases of examination cheating that have been taken to courts had not been heard and concluded.  “Throughout our investigation, we have realized that most of the cases that have been reported and prosecuted over the last five years, have either remained unresolved or are withdrawn. How does the Judiciary and the ODPP intend to resolve this to gain more public trust in the outcome of the process?” asked Hon Melly.
 

In his submission, the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Mr. Paul Ndemo indicated that the delay in the gazettement of the chairperson of the National Examinations Appeals Tribunal, could be a major contributor to the delay in solving these cases, as the Tribunal is not yet operational.

“Owing to the mandate of the Tribunal, we propose that the Committee should initiate statutory amendments to transit the Tribunal to the Judiciary from the Ministry of Education to secure its operational and decisional independence.” said Mr. Ndemo.

He told the Members  that once this proposal is transitioned in law, the Judiciary is ready to operationalize  it to give candidates a forum to lodge complaints they may have with the examination body when it cancels results.
 

Asked about their recommendations to address exam cheating and malpractices, ODPP proposed  the adoption of a multi-sectoral approach in handling and management of exams, increased budgetary allocation to ensure capacity building for stakeholders and infrastructural improvement, establishment of Community Outreach Programmes by the Government to create awareness on the ripple effect of exam cheating, and the development of proper and timely databases of all the cases reported for exam cheating and related malpractices.