Court frees man charged for selling fake exam papers on sh 1 million bond

Oscar Brighton alias Jagongo, a Zetech university student, has been charged in the Milimani law courts with possessing KCPE and KCSE examination papers.

Brighton pleaded not guilty to two charges before Chief Magistrate Wendy Kagendo.

He denied that he was found with national examination papers illegally obtained from an unknown location in Kenya on various dates between March 7 and 10, 2022.

He was charged with a second count of disclosing the contents of the exams to another person via his mobile phone.

He was released on a Ksh1 million bond.

Undercover sleuths from the Kenya National Examination Council’s (KNEC) monitoring and surveillance unit apprehended the Economics student in early March.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Brighton was apprehended while in possession of the fake papers, with others in soft copy in his mobile phone.

“He had created several WhatsApp groups where candidates were asked to deposit between Ksh1,600 for Humanities to Ksh2,600 for Sciences,” noted the DCI.

The latest comes just a day after Education CS George Magoha revealed that a ring of cunning exam cheats had been busted. 

“A few scrupulous people have over the last five years devised a new dirty trick of opening examination packages a few minutes before the start time, in what we call the “early exposure”.” CS Magoha said. 

According to the CS, the cartels in question were using mobile phones to photograph the exam before sneaking out the questions and passing them on to a hired group, who would then tackle the questions and send the answers back to the examination center

To further minimise incidences of malpractice, the Education Ministry has issued a slew of new directives aimed at closing all potential exam leakage loopholes.

To facilitate monitoring processes, all schools will now be required to keep the gate open throughout the day’s examination.

At the same time, mobile phones have been prohibited in exam centers, with the Ministry stating that only two phones will be permitted: one for the center manager and one for the security officer.

Both phones will be kept in the centre manager’s office in case of an emergency.

While the morning paper is being written, security officers will be required to sit in positions where they have a clear view of the examination materials for the second daily paper.

Furthermore, during the examination season, centre managers will be required to keep unauthorized teachers out of the centers.