In a statement shared on Sunday, March 20, the DCI noted that the syndicate was being aided by unscrupulous county government officials as well as headteachers.
“In spite of the concerted efforts that the Ministry of Education led by the Cabinet Secretary and KNEC officials have employed to uphold the integrity of administering the examination, the efforts are being jeopardized by crooked government officials at county levels.
“An elaborate web of fraudsters comprising of school heads, security agents, parents, and college students, in some parts of the country have conspired to give lazy students an unfair advantage over their counterparts who worked hard and prepared for their examinations,” read the statement in part.
The agency further revealed that some of the exam containers were opened hours before the scheduled time and university students were hired to provide answers for the candidates sitting the national test.
“In some instances, the examination containers are opened hours before the set time, to supply the examination papers to university and college students, for development of answers that are later sold to candidates,” added the statement.
Four suspects, linked to the syndicate were arrested after a one-week pursuit by the DCI. The four are students at different universities.
One of the students was arrested while he was busy administering English paper 2 and Chemistry paper 1 to students of Silibwet and Sitoito secondary schools in Molo, through his WhatsApp group with a following of 70 members.
According to detectives, the suspect was charging Ksh500 per paper and also belonged to a Telegram group of 17,000. The student also had a mobile money account as well as a bank accounts for seamless transactions.
“In order to conceal his identity, the SIM card he was using was registered using the identification details of one Evans Kiprono.
“It is at Rongo University where a wider syndicate of the examination fraudsters existed, in a Telegram group dubbed the ‘Kale Group’ created under the name ‘Bailing Out’ among other groups,” added the statement.
A network of university students had been recruited to offer answers to the stolen exams which would then be shared with some of the candidates.
“Relentless efforts by detectives have also unearthed that the syndicate also operates a till number account (of a popular bank), where candidates are being asked to deposit Sh5,000 per paper, or a discounted rate of Sh20,000 for the whole examination,” stated DCI.
Investigations to find the masterminds of the accounts are still ongoing.
Since KCSE exams started about two weeks ago, tens of cases of malpractices have been reported across the country, with Education CS Prof George Magoha citing mobile phones as leading tools being used by students, teachers and other officials.
Source: KENYAGIST.COM
