Tender wars at Ministry of Education to blame for KCPE results mess-Raila says

Azimio One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga now claims the irregularities experienced after the release of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results are deep-rooted in the procurement tussles in the Ministry of Education.

Raila said the contract of the UK Company that had been procured since 2016 to print exams was cut short by the president Ruto government after the refusal to give kickbacks.

He alleged that the contract was awarded to a Mombasa-road-based company that later outsourced a company based in India.

“The Kenya Kwanza administration awarded the contract to a Mombasa Road-based company. It did not have the capacity and could not assure the integrity of the exams. The Mombasa Road-based company outsourced to a company based in India.” Raila claimed.

The opposition leader argued that this is where the whole mess stemmed from.

Raila has called for a thorough investigation into the award of the tender to the purported Mombasa Road-based company and demanded that Kenyans should be told how the award was arrived at.

Odinga said the integrity of exams is under threat adding that they have evidence to substantiate their claims and have already written to the stakeholders in the sector to fight for the integrity of exams.

Further, he added that the same effect of KCPE may be experienced in the KCSE exams.

“The integrity of our exams is under threat. Some of them in the (SMS) short code were different from what was in the schools. KNEC is calling it non-alignment. KCPE candidates were graded for an exam they did not sit.” Odinga said.

The results released by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu last month saw complaints over the misalignment of some candidates.