The police have arrested a man who impersonated his wife in the ongoing West Africa Senior Secondary School Examination for private candidates.

Otchere, unemployed, was allegedly writing the Integrated Science paper for his wife, Christiana Yeboah, a teacher at the Local Authority Junior Secondary School at Djankama, near Aburi in the Eastern Region.

Thirty-year-old Kofi Otchere, who was arrested last Friday at the Presbyterian Secondary School examination centre at Legon, is one of 21 people so far arrested in connection with malpractices in the examinations which started on October 5, police said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Patrick Kwabena Ampewuah, Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigations Department said the impersonators and the candidates for whom they were writing the examinations had all been arrested.

Otchere, his wife and one other suspect, named as Kwasi Danso, are in police custody pending further investigations, Mr. Ampewuah said.

Two others, Frank Asamoah and Nateem Benson who were arrested at Nkawkaw, have already been sentenced to nine months imprisonment each by a court. Six others, Reuben Thomas Ocloo, Richard Danquah, Redwan Kadiri, Annafi Razak, Ewedanu Tufafa and Kelvin Djan, have been granted police enquiry bail.

Another two, Bismarck Tetteh and Lancelot Larbi, are due to appear in court in Accra today.

Mr. Ampewuah said two candidates, Louis Sackey and Agbenyega Ahiadu, are reported to have absconded upon hearing of the arrest of their impersonators.

He said that Kadiri and Razak are being investigated for writing the Core Mathematics paper, one for the other, both having registered for the paper. The police are finding out who was writing for whom.

He expressed concern about the alarming rate of impersonation in examinations noting that in many cases, parents masterminded the crime by paying the huge fees demanded by the impersonators.

Frederick Selbe, Deputy Director, Legal Services of the West African Examinations Council, said those found to have engaged in any form of examination malpractice will forfeit their certificates.

Mr. Selbe said the Council is determined to take the fight to candidates and third parties who indulge in examination malpractices in order to preserve the sanctity of the examination.

Source: The Ghanaian Times