The Catholic Church in Kenya now wants Education CS Prof Jacob Kaimenyi and Kenya National Executive Council (Knec) chief executive officer, Joseph Kivilu to take personal responsibility for exam leakage.
The church says the alleged leakage of the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) has reached an alarming level and as a result, the credibility of the Kenyan education system has been put at stake.
The church through a statement signed by Rev Maurice Makumba who is the chairman of the commission for education and religious education in the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) on Friday, now wants the Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Examinations Council to get to the bottom of the national exams leakage.
"We call upon the Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Examinations Council to get to the bottom of this matter once and for all. The Cabinet Secretary in charge of Education and the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya National Examinations Council must personally take responsibility for this grave matter," part of the statement reads.
Machumba, who is also the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru blamed the government of failing to effectively implement the Knec Act 2012 to curb exam leakage.
"It is sad that the Kenya National Examinations Council Act 2012 sections 29-40 on examination malpractice are not being enforced effectively to curb this vice. Time has come for us as a country to rethink the administration and management of examinations and determine whether it is an appropriate model," stated part of the statement.
On the other hand, the bishops have now demanded that stern action should be taken against those who are involved in the exam leakage; an action which they say will restore Kenyans confidence in the national examination process.
"We have observed a culture that public officers in this country are not being accountable for their actions. We demand that action be taken against those who are involved in examination malpractices according to the law of the land. We urgently need to restore lost confidence and trust in the Knec and the national examination process," the statement continues.
The church has stressed that examination leakage gives an unfair advantage to a few and while it erodes the values of honesty, hard work, and individual responsibility and as a result, some students lose the opportunity to achieve their dreams.
"The ripple effect of this is that deserving learners are locked out of higher levels of training and education and consequently out of their dream careers, thus eroding the culture of hard work. In effect, a culture of injustice, corruption and cheating is ingrained in the minds of young people."