By Nasratu Kargbo
Assistant Public Relations Officer at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Sylvanus Blake said the eleven candidates that were caught in the act of malpractice on the 2 nd June2022, have been released on bail.
Blake told Politico that the candidates along with the proprietor of the school were released after meeting their bail requirements. However, he noted that the investigation is ongoing, and that if evidence is found, they will be charged to court.
He assured that no one will be shielded and those found innocent will be released.
He narrated how the ACC team acting on intelligence went to a school called Moses Academy International School at Deep Eye Water, close to Waterloo.
He said ACC’s Scorpion Squad together with the Sierra Leone Police then raided a house nearby and found eleven candidates taking mathematics exams. Someone was solving the problems whilst the candidates copied on their papers.
He stated that they later found out that the building used for this act is the dwelling house of the proprietor.
Blake confirmed that at the school, they found some of the candidates with phones that had all the answers to the questions. Describing the situation as chaotic, he explained how they had to forcefully break into the house, as stones were being thrown at them, with the windscreen of one of the vehicles smashed during the raid, and some of the police and ACC personnel sustaining bruises.
He called on the public to help the commission in the fight against exams malpractice, stating that if they suspect candidates to be taking exams in a residence other than a school, they should ensure that they communicate that to the ACC.
Politico reached the police on the said matter for confirmation but they did not respond.
Exactly a week after the arrest, another 19 candidates and the Principal
of Sham Sierra Secondary School were arrested yesterday 9th June
2022, on the same allegations of exams malpractice.
According to an ACC report, the commission’s scorpion squad raided
various examination centres. Thirteen of the nineteen candidates arrested were students from War Wounded Secondary School and the King Fahad Islamic Secondary School.
A principal had reportedly created different WhatsApp groups to share examination questions and answers with WASSCE candidates.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (10/06/22)
