End of long wait as former candidate gets withheld KCSE results

By WAHOME THUKU

After one year of waiting, a high school leaver can now get his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results.

The High Court has ordered the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) to release the results to the candidate, Ian Mwamuli, who sat the examination in 2012.

The results had been withheld since January 2013 over a conflict in names used by the candidate in registering for the examination and those in Knec’s records.

Mwamuli’s mother had been named him Ian Mutugi Mwangi soon after birth because then she was unmarried. Later the mother got married to the boy’s biological father and they changed his name to Brian Mutugi Mwai.

The couple later separated and the mother went to live in Britain where she married one Mwamuli and again the boy’s name was officially changed to Ian Mwamuli. The change of name was officially registered in Nairobi.

However, when he sat his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations at Kerugoya Municipality Boarding Primary School in 2008, the candidate used the name Mwai B Mutugi which was officially captured in the Knec records.

The problem arose because when he registered for the KCSE at St Mary Academy he used the name Ian Mwamuli, prompting the council to withhold the results.

Mwamuli then filed the suit at the High Court in Nairobi on June 7, last year seeking to have the decision by the council overturned. He also asked the court to order the council to release the results. He claimed the two names belonged to one and the same person.

He told the court that despite having presented the official documents for the change of name to the council officials on March 25, last year, the results were not released as promised. He was never given an explanation despite numerous visits to the Knec offices.

High Court judge George Odunga said the council had powers to withhold only the results of a candidate involved in irregularities or malpractices.