There was drama in Nakuru's Central Business District along Kenyatta Avenue on Friday after a cyber café operator was roughed up by the public on allegations that he was supplying fake exam papers to unsuspecting candidates.
According to witness accounts, trouble started after a group of students entered the premise and stayed for long raising eyebrows.
“The exam leakage alert is making parents be cautious with their children’s movement especially near cyber cafés because at the end of it all, the operator is engaging in illegal business while the parent bears the brunt of paying double fees,” said Melisa Muthoni, who operates a saloon in an adjacent shop.
The cyber café operator denied the allegations arguing that the students who to him were like any other customer, were in constant communication with somebody on the phone and could not figure out what they were planning.
“I am being victimised innocently because I have never engaged in such business at my cyber café, maybe the students are in a position to comment on the allegations,” he said.
It was after a thorough interrogation that the students from a renowned girl’s school in the outskirts of the town revealed that they were indeed on a mission to download exam papers from a brother to one of them who is a university student in Nairobi County.
“We had not told the cyber cafe operator about our deal because we know it is illegal. We were to download the papers then save them on our memory cards to be distributed via SMS late in the night,” said one of them who cannot be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Antony Rotich, a police officer who was manning a nearby bank intervened, confiscating the phones before taking the students to Central police station where both the parents and school authorities were informed about the development.
Central police boss Bernard Kioko cautioned the public about luring candidates into such malpractices further promising that the university student will be arrested and charged with being in possession of fake exam papers.
Last week, the Kenya National Examinations Council chief executive Joseph Kivilu alerted the country over fake chemistry practical papers that were in circulation, cautioning students not to fall prey to the fraudsters.
“Candidates need to be warned about the issue to avoid the temptations of being duped and wait for our official exam schedule,” Kivilu said.