9 KNEC Officials Kicked Out of Office

Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) CEO Joseph Kivilu and eight other officials have officially been suspended to allow for investigations into the rampant incidents of examination leakage.

The nine top officials were dismissed on Tuesday as the exam body continued to face pressure from the Education Ministry and the public to come clear, on what occasioned the massive cheating witnessed in the 2015 national exams.

This comes in the face of an explosive report from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detailing how the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) was compromised by a network of cartels involving officers at the examination body.

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i had earlier promised to take serious action against those who abetted the leakage, which greatly dented the KNEC's integrity.

“The government is finally going to act on this historic cheating that eclipsed the country. The loopholes within the education system are being seriously looked into and we will reveal the actions that will be taken to curb all this on March 30, 2016,” promised Matiang’i during a past symposium.

Kivilu, who was appointed by former Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi, had been in office for about two years, during which the country experienced its highest number of canceled results in KCSE as over 5000 students were affected.

Read also: How KCSE Leakage Earned Mandera Teacher Sh1.5 Million 

Last week, the government released names of top KNEC officials, including suspended Mr Kivilu, who were ordered to record statements with the police over exam irregularities.

The officials included: Ambia Noor (Senior Deputy Examinations Secretary), Maundu Mantenzawa (Deputy Secretary-Security), Thomas McKenzie (Principal Examinations Secretary) and Sarah Majani (Senior Deputy Secretary-Reprographics).

The order was further directed to Bobby Nyagah (Senior Deputy Secretary), Geoffrey Gitogo (Senior Deputy Secretary-ICT), Michael Ndua (Principal Supply Management Officer) and Richard Mwangangi (Deputy Secretary).

Read Also: Kenya Examinations Board Dissolved