Health worker arrested during MSCE exams fined MK100, 000

Mkukula First Grade Magistrate Court in Lumbadzi on Wednesday, 13th July, 2016, fined 34-year old Maxwell Mkwezalamba K100,000 or in default serve a 12-year jail term for (im)personation and uttering a false document.

Mkwezalamba, a Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA) at Chiwamba Health Centre in Lilongwe, had been convicted on his own plea of guilty when he first appeared before the court Monday, 11th July, 2016.

He was arrested on 7th July, 2016, after the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) discovered that he got employed using Maliseni TL Kafundu’s Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) of 2009, contravening section 391 of the Penal Code.

This section states: “Any person who utters any document which has been issued by lawful authority to another person, and whereby that other person is certified to be a person possessed of any qualification recognized by law for any purpose, or to be the holder of any office, or to be entitled to exercise any profession, or to enjoy any rank or status, and falsely represents himself to be the person named in the document, shall be guilty of an offence of the same kind and shall be liable to the same punishment as if he had forged the document.”

Further, Mkwezalamba— who comes from Ngolomi Village, Traditional Authority Msakambewa in Dowa district— had duly registered for the 2016 MSCE examination but using the same name [Maliseni Kafundu] to regularize his employment and official documents. This was, again, in contravention of MANEB Conduct of Examination Regulations, 2008, Section 29(20) which prohibits impersonation.

Mkwezalamba paid the K100,000 fine and escaped jail.

This is a third recorded case since the 2016 MSCE examination began. The first case involved Joseph Makiyi, an employee of Prison Fellowship in Balaka, who hired Charles Kumwenda to write examinations on his behalf. Both were arrested for impersonation and pleaded guilty to the charge. Makiyi was sentenced to six years imprisonment with hard labour (IHL) or pay K80, 000 in default; while Kumwenda was fined K70, 000 or be imprisoned for four years in default. Both paid the fines.

In Balaka, again, Zamadula Macheka, teacher at Dziwe FP School, who was writing the examination to upgrade his qualifications, was also convicted for possessing unauthorised reference material, contrary to MANEB Conduct of Examination Regulations, 2008, Section 29(7). He was fined K50, 000 fine or in serve a two-year jail term. He paid the fine.

The examination began on 22nd June, 2016 is expected to end on 20th July, 2016 and a total of 153, 656 registered for it.