Actualités of Monday, 8 September 2014

Source: Cameroon Tribune

GCE Examiners banned for dinning with Fru Ndi

It emerged from the August 30, 2014 National Executive Committee (NEC) session of the opposition, the Social Democratic Front, SDF, that is considering a correspondence to the Minister of Secondary Education to challenge the decision of the GCE Board to ban some three examiners for inviting colleagues to eat with the SDF National Chairman during the marking of the 2014 examinations in Bamenda.

In effect, a statement from the GCE Board argues that their involvement in "grave unauthorised invitations to examiners for a meal at the SDF Chairman's residence", constitute a malpractice which merit sanctions.

The SDF National Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi, regrets the GCE ban in what he believes was a harmless and apolitical choice to annually share in a "thank you meal" with GCE examiners. Fru Ndi appears at a loss why government Ministers and other civil servants regularly dine at his residence and the GCE Board thinks others wise.

He told CT in Bamenda on September 2nd 2014 that as a parent, he does not consider it sinful to appreciate teachers across the board over a meal during which no political messages feature.

Away from him; Muluh Gideon, Werewum Maurice and Bangu Thaddeus acknowledge that they have been banned from GCE Board activities for three years. In a telephone chat, Werewum Maurice, Assistant GCE Examiner for Physics from far away, GHS Furu Awa told CT that "No GCE Code of Conduct was broken in extending invitations to examiners who are full blown adults and not subject to control after 5 p.m during the marking exercise." He acknowledged that the trio examiners involved are front benchers of the SDF Party and contact persons of the party's chairman in what he considered, invitations for a meal from a parent.

Werewum Maurice is the SDF District Chairman for Batibo. Muluh Gideon of GTHS Ndop is the Assistant GCE Examiner for English language and North West Secretary General of the SDF while Bangu Thaddeus from GHS Santa is the GCE A/L Examiner and SDF, District Treasurer in Batibo.

Malpractices during the 2014 GCE session included collusion, impersonation, abandoned scripts, offensive language etc. In all, GCE centres, authorities and teachers registered 350 sanctions for malpractices at the Ordinary level and 83 at the Advanced level this time around.