Committee on Education Questions Judiciary,Office of the Director of Public Prosecution on Delays in Prosecution of Exam Cheating Cases
The absence of proper guidelines on how to handle legal cases of examination cheating and related malpractices has been cited as a major contributor to the delays in conclusion of the court cases.This is according to the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, Paul Ndemo.
Today, the Departmental Committee on Education chaired by Tinderet Constituency MP Hon. Julius Melly convened a meeting with the Judiciary and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, to establish why there have been delays in resolution of exam cheating cases before Courts.
“Could you give this committee a summary of existing court cases relating to exam cheating and malpractices, what is the threshold considered before cases are forwarded for prosecution, and what guides the decision to charge?” Asked Chair Hon. Melly.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions represented by Dorcas Oduor, the Secretary of Public Prosecutions who is also the Acting DPP, tabled a list of 53 existing court cases relating to alleged cheating and malpractices in the 2022 KCSE exams.
From her presentation, only three of the 53 cases have been concluded. The number of ongoing and withdrawn cases raised concerns from the legislators, who sought to understand the why this was happening.
“Each and every time these cases are initiated, they seem to be water-tight and supported by witnesses, but somewhere along the way, the witnesses are reported to be unavailable and cases are withdrawn, what happens in between?” questioned Hon Melly.
The Ag. Director of Public Prosecutions attributed the withdrawals to the complexity of crime and the multiple parties involved including teachers, students, parents, and examiners; stating that it is not easy to lay undoubted blame on one party hence the need for a multi-sectoral approach towards the resolution of the exam cheating menace.
In his submission, the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Paul Ndemo indicated that the delay in the gazettement of the chairperson of the National Examinations Appeals Tribunal has also been a hinderance to the successful resolution of the said cases as the Tribunal is not yet operational.
“We propose that the Committee initiates statutory amendments to transit the Tribunal to the Judiciary from the Ministry of Education to secure its operational and decisional independence.” Said Ndemo.
Asked about their recommendations to address exam cheating and malpractices, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions proposes among others: 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.
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