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{
    "id": 729686,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/729686/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 227,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mbui",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1750,
        "legal_name": "Robert Mbui",
        "slug": "robert-mbui"
    },
    "content": "Will we go all the way back and start looking at what was happening at that time? Will we condemn every Kenyan who went to the university and assume that the A grade they got before Matiang’i is questionable? As a nation, we need to be very careful. Otherwise, I want to thank Hon. Agoi for this Bill. This is a very critical Bill. We all know that education and health are the most important social functions of any state. Therefore, we have to take those things with the seriousness that they deserve. Evaluation of learners is what helps us to know the performance of that child or person when they were in an institution of learning. It is a very important part of their academic life. That is why we have the KNEC that deals with the evaluation of our learners at primary school in KCPE and at secondary school in KCSE. What my colleague has proposed here is of extreme importance. He is saying that when we are evaluated, there has to be fairness in the way the evaluation is done. We have seen situations where students’ exams are cancelled. I will give an example of last year’s KCPE. It was very shocking that so many pupils were unable to get their results the first time they were released. There was a technical error or hurry by the administration of exams through the Jubilee CS, Matiang’i and so many of our learners got Grade X. When a child sees that grade, they know that there is something wrong. Unfortunately, we came to realise that it was a computer error but you can imagine what that child felt. If some of those children were older like us, they would probably have gotten heart attacks. It would have been too late when you start telling them that there was a computer error. Some of their parents would get annoyed and even condemn them and say words that they would have to retract later when they see those grades. We need to be careful. We need to introduce this tribunal. I support this fully. This tribunal will bring about fairness and justice in the evaluation so that the people handling the evaluation of our children are careful when cancelling and releasing results because they know if there is any mistake, there is also another body that will look into it. In the past it has been quite difficult for our learners but this will bring a lot of fairness in the sector and in evaluation. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you are aware that in the past, some of the KNEC officers would call principals of schools and ask them to give a small Harambee so that the results of their school could go up. We have seen this in the media. I believe that it has been happening. Therefore, it also means that they could also call and threaten to reduce the results of a school. We need a body that can rein in those officers and ensure that what they do is the right thing. This tribunal is of utmost importance. The KNEC itself has made mistakes. Therefore, as we talk about the second part of the amendment which deals with the punishment, we must ask ourselves whether this Council made mistakes. Yes it has. We know this because there are so many results which have been remarked and the results of the remarking were different from the initial results. That means mistakes can happen anywhere. We need to create a situation where if someone carrying out their responsibilities makes a mistake that affects an ordinary Kenyan, this person has to face the full force of the law. Nobody is above the law in this country. It is unfortunate that our previous law allowed our officers to get away with murder. We need to rein them in and punish them when they make mistakes when it comes to officiating of examinations. I want to give an example of things I have seen in the examinations that shock us. About four or five years ago, the top three performers in primary school were from the same school. If you talk to any actuary or if you deal with probabilities, it is almost impossible that the top three students or pupils of Kenya can be from the same school. It is possible in secondary school because the best students are taken into certain schools. We are talking about primary school The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}