This archive report was first published on 2 August 2019.
On August 2, 2019, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha issued a stern warning to exam cheating cartels operating in South Nyanza, Kenya.
Prof Magoha revealed that the cartels, which include some teachers and school heads, have been demanding money from parents with the promise that they will deliver examination papers to students.
The cartel, he said, has its headquarters in Rongo and runs all the way from Kisii, Nyatike, Homa Bay to the surrounding islands, with the confident perpetrators hoping to use Lake Victoria to escape to neighboring countries.
He said this year, focus will be in Nyatike constituency where cheating has been rampant, with about 10 schools from the region found culpable last year.
Prof Magoha spoke in Agenga Secondary School, whose results were cancelled last year over irregularities, and warned teachers who are collaborators to return the money they have already collected from people.
“Exam cartels are active as we speak, they are already receiving money from parents. Why pay money? Why not take it to church?” he wondered.
He also said that had Agenga Secondary School students not cheated, at least 50 per cent of them would have joined the university.
Results of 3,427 candidates in 44 schools were cancelled over irregularities in the 2018 KCSE, with the number of candidates and schools whose results were nullified tripling, raising fears of the re-emergence of examination cartels.
