Clean up Examinations Council of Zambia, demands NDC Vice President Josephs Rikki Akafumba

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Lusaka.10.30 Hours. 25.10.2018.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Vice President Josephs Rikki Akafumba is demanding an immediate clean up at the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ).

Mr. Akafumba says it is abundantly clear that the ECZ has been infiltrated and compromised, thus the Examining Councils ethical ability, capacity and mandate to conduct and administer examinations in the Zambia increasingly remaining doubtful.

In this vain, the NDC is calling for urgent institutional reforms at the ECZ, as  its continued lapses may worsen fear that Zambian academic credentials will not be accepted by relevant international bodies, owing to the dented reputation of the Examinations body.

“We propose that a team of security officers from relevant institutions be permanently attached to the examination body. This, in our view, will help reduce cases of malpractice at the ECZ. As a party, we urge Government to consider disbanding the board at the ECZ. The board has clearly failed to live up and execute its mandate,” observed Akafumba.

The NDC Vice President urged the Zambia Police Service and relevant security agencies to speed up the probe into the leaked Grade nine Mathematics examination paper.

“We demand that all those behind the leaked exam paper should forthwith be dismissed and prosecuted.Certainly, the security situation at the ECZ is highly compromised. Thus, to assume that the leaked Grade Nine Mathematics paper was done by inside staff at the ECZ is not an understatement.  The NDC is further concerned that the leaked Mathematics paper was circulated on social media,’ pleaded Akafumba.

Akafumba prodded the Zambia Information Communications Authority ZICTA to assist law enforcement agencies trace how this paper was made public.

“It is unfortunate that disgruntled persons are now abusing social media to leak exam papers. As a party, we want to know how the said Mathematics paper leaked from the ECZ despite stringent security measures put in place to curb malpractices,” grieved Akafumba.

Akafumba expressed worry that the continued leakages of exam papers had eroded the educational standards in Zambia, stressing that deferment of National Examinations at Grades 7,9 and 12 equally negatively affected both pupils and parents.

“We urge the ECZ to release the revised exam timetable and ensure that examinations are conducted as scheduled. With the security data base being compromised at ECZ, makes NDC to have reservations if public documents are safe,” lamented Akafumba.

“The poor salaries by civil servants in general and the harsh economic conditions civil servants are going through caused by the PF Government cannot justify the leakage of examination papers by the officers responsible, but it may be a contributing factor to this criminality,” noted Akafumba.

Akafumba explained  that it is annoying among civil servants as constitutional office holders and President Lungu recently increase salaries through Finance Minister, Margaret Mwanakatwe’s Statutory Instrument, while lower rank public servants continue shouldering the negative effects of poor economic management and plunder of national resources.

Akafumba advised the PF Government through General Education Minister David Mabumba and Secretary to the Cabinet Msiska to review the salaries and conditions of service for all the civil servants without  delay.