Embakasi East MP Babu Owino. [Nairobiwire.com]Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has told Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to oversee the KCPE and KCSE exams at home to allow the fresh presidential election smoothly run.
Matiang’i on Monday set October 23 as the date for the commencement of KCSE exams which will run until November 29 while KCPE candidates will sit for their papers on November 1 and 2.
He set the dates as he urged the IEBC to conduct the fresh presidential election at least a week before the beginning of KCSE exams.
IEBC on Tuesday set October 17 as the day Kenyans will go to the polls to elect president following the nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election by the Supreme Court.
The opposition has, however, opposed the IEBC date and wants the electoral body’s team reconstituted before the poll is held.
Babu, who spoke to journalists in Nairobi Wednesday said a thorough audit of the IEBC ICT system must be undertaken publicly and by a bipartisan group of ICT experts drawn from the broadest pool possible consisting of NASA, Jubilee, IEBC and any other stakeholders interested.
“IEBC servers must be opened because the truth about the last election is still on the server. Whoever won the election is still in that server and [IEBC Chairman Wafula] Chebukati must open the server so that the truth is seen by Kenyans,” Babu said.
“School children must be kept away from Jubilee politics. We hold our children’s interest at heart. We want to create a conducive environment for them to learn and acquire knowledge. This idea of hiding that there are exams around the corner does not hold.”
“Exams can be given as a take away to be done at home and the exam papers taken to the nearest Chiefs’ camp. These children must all pass because there is no need of going to school from Class One to Class Eight or to Form Four then being failed by [Education Cabinet Secretary Fred] Matiang’i.”
Matiangi had argued that the elections should be held without interfering with the final year examination calendar.