By: Problyn J. Alppha
The regional manager of the Anti-corruption commission Kono District Hawanatu Ormohtayor Kamara has said that examination malpractice is a syndicate in Kono District.
She made the pronouncement when updating this medium on their monitoring mechanisms in the ongoing West Africa Senior School Certificate examination (WASSCE).
According to her prior to now there was a taskforce that was charged with the responsibility of monitoring external examinations in order to addressing the problem of examination malpractice but this time round, it is only the anti-corruption commission that is performing the monitoring role in the ongoing West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination. The ACC Regional manager in Kono District maintained that the commission’s 2008 Act as amended in 2019 criminalizes examination malpractice thus it is a mandate for workers of the commission to monitor every public examination.
She further noted that the unsatisfactory findings of the commission including its recommendations are going to be presented in a report form to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for corrective measures. Madam Kamara whilst substantiating her statement that examination malpractice is a syndicate in Kono District pointed out that since the commencement of this year’s WASSCE examination they have seized over seventy mobile phones with examination malpractice related materials on the phones.
She noted that as per protocols candidates are to be thoroughly searched before entering the respective examination halls but nothing of such is happening, adding that all the malpractice discovered were done by the commission unlike the examination officials who are allegedly comfortable with the present status qua of the ongoing examination malpractice that is on the increase in this year’s WASSCE examination in Kono District.
“What saddens me the most was when one of the candidate whose mobile phone was seized assaulted an official on his constitutional duty”, Madam Hawanatu Ormohtayor Kamara opined.
