Nankhumwa calls for commission of inquiry on Malawi exam fraud
Leader of opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa has called on President Lazarus Chakwera to immediately set up a Commission of Inquiry in order to find out the cause of the leakage of examination papers f which forced the cancellation of the 2020 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) exams and led to clashes Wednesday between angry students and police, who used teargas to disperse the protests.
The MSCE are final examinations for learners in Malawi’s secondary schools, which prepare them for the next level of their education.
Commenting on the development, Nankhumwa said a Commission of Inquiry must comprise education experts and other relevant members drawn from the public and private sectors and not politicians.
The Leader of Opposition also said there would be no need to wait for longer before the examinations board Manbe administer fresh MSCE examinations “because they obviously have already formulated papers.”
Nankhumwa then described the cancellation of the 2020 MSCE examinations as a blow to parents and guardians because their hard-earned resources, including money for school fees, have gone to waste.
He added that the issues surrounding the 2020 exams will also have a psychological impact on students.
He said: “I wish to state that it is apparent from the circumstances surrounding the cancellation that our students are innocent victims of a collapsing education system, riddled with many loopholes, including corruption.”
In a national address Thursday, President Lazarus Chakwera said top managers of the examinations board should be fired for allowing the tests to be leaked.
President Chakwera said the examination leakage proved the incompetence of the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB), which administers the exams.
“To have several secondary schools’ exam papers leaked, and the education of hundreds of thousands of students thrown off-course is simply unacceptable. Whatever the motives, this is clearly a deliberate act occasioned by elements of criminality, impunity, and negligence that cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.
Police arrested 38 students and three teachers Tuesday from various secondary schools in connection with the leakage of six examination papers that were shared through social media.
The executive director of the examinations board, Gerald Chiunda, told a news conference Wednesday the leakage might have originated from his office and the matter was being investigated.
“Even as we speak now, examinations for Geography 1, Geography 2, have not moved from the district central point to the distribution centers in that district. They have not. Those were going to be moved on Saturday or Sunday. So, if that examination has leaked, then where else do [we] point fingers at? It is MANEB,” he said.
President Chakwera announced several measures aimed at clearing up the mess.
These include a one-week deadline for the minister of education to identify and discipline people who allowed the leakage to happen.
“I am therefore giving the Malawi National Examination Board until the end of this month to remove the top management of MANEB, on account of this gross failure, and replace it with a new team that will conduct the most credible examinations Malawi has ever had, which must be done no later than January,” said the president.
Education expert Steve Sharra says although he welcomes the measures, making the students wait for a new exam – after months of COVID-19 closures – sounds unfair.
“They have already spent five months of school closures. We know what happened, some students got pregnant, some got married, and then when schools resumed. At least it was a big relief because we were going to at least have the process of returning to normality. And then this happens again, so we risk having those unfortunate incidents all over again,” he said in quotes reported by VOA.
Sharra feels the government should re-administer the examinations within days or weeks by just replacing the leaked papers, rather than punishing the students for the crime they did not commit.
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At least not from you Sir. This is your making. Commission of inquiry?
It’s the cadets you and sleepy APM who are doing this to frustrate HE Chakwera. Inuso bwana procrastination too much. These dogs will eat your supper.
Inquiry for what? Perennial underperformers, just fire them all. Starting with the board and the entire senior management at MANEB. That’s the problem of being used to mediocre. You entertain dumb-heads to be running this country. This is the price that you pay.
Stupid idea. You have have hundreds of commissions during your rule, what credible outcome have we gotten out of them? LMC has directed and that is what we are going to follow not the stupid commissions of inquiry when it is obvious that the cause is cadet sabotage.
The cancellation of the form four exams is not new to Malawi this happened in 2000. Only that those calling for a commission of inquiry might have kids at that time. A commission of inquiry should be instituted on the massive looting by the DPP functionaries and another could have conducted on the mysterious deaths of Chasowa and Njauju unfortunately the so-called Leader of Opposition never uttered a word in support of investigation into murders of the two patriots. KN is churning balderdash I wish he’d repeat his words on the death of Bingu caused by JB. KN hasn’t come… Read more »
Mr malemia who is using his late cousin’s maneb certificate, has no clean hands to comment on this. Mr malemia have you seen Lucius banda commenting on this? No, because he also forged maneb certificates. Leave those with genuine maneb certification to comment. Inu ndine tingokhala pheeee
The cause is already known Sir. Cadets were planted in all organization by DPP when they new that the writing was on the wall.Mukudziwa inu a Nankhumwa. Therefore no waste of money for enquires.
A commission of enquiry on how much,including Nankhumwa,plundered,pillaged ,looted from 1994 to2020.