The police have arrested a conman who has been fleecing money from headteachers, just hours to the release of the results of the 2020 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examination results.
The suspect identified as James Bubumbi, a resident of Kasubi, a Kampala suburb has been arrested from Kyegwegwa District from where he plotted to con several schools under the pretext that UNEB would withhold their results due to their purported involvement in examination malpractice.
Charles Twine, the Criminal Investigations Directorate-CID spokesperson, notes that by the time of his arrest Bubumbi had conned several schools in Bundibugyo district but his luck ran out when he tried to use a similar move on a headteacher from Soroti district who was familiar with the UNEB system and suspected fraud.
The CID spokesperson notes that the suspect will be charged with fraud, obtaining money by pretence, and impersonation.
Targeting Bundibugyo could have been a good move for the conman as the district has been named among those with high levels of malpractice. For instance, at the Primary Leaving Examinations, the largest numbers of withheld results were from Bundibugyo and Kasese districts. Bundibugyo had also been point out as a hotspot of malpractice in the 2018 and 2019 examinations.
Meanwhile, Dan Odongo, the UNEB Executive Secretary, has condemned the acts of extortion and further cautioned headteachers and the general public against being hoodwinked and exploited by such unscrupulous people.
“In case results of the school have been withheld due to suspected malpractice, the policy of UNEB is to notify in writing, the affected schools as well as the District Education Officer,” Odongo says. He adds that thereafter, they are formally invited to appear before the relevant committee to be accorded a fair hearing, after which results are either cancelled or released depending on the verdict reached.
A total of 333,889 candidates registered for the 2020 UCE examinations. 148,135 of the candidates were funded by the government under the Universal Secondary Education (USE) Program.
185,754 candidates registered as Non-USE candidates, while 47 candidates registered from Upper Prison Inmates Secondary School, Luzira.
-URN
