The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has begun the procedure for the right to prosecute candidates who engage in examination malpractices.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Rev. Victor Brew, the Head of Legal at the Council said they are hopeful that by next year, WAEC would be authorised to begin the prosecution of examination offenders.

“We have initiated the process to obtain the power to prosecute examination offenders. We are still engaging with the Attorney-General’s Department, since, by law, it is the Attorney-General who is vested with the power to prosecute; any other person or entity prosecutes on behalf of the Attorney-General.

“But when we finally get the nod to prosecute, offenders will be processed for court by the staff of WAEC. We will have our own prosecutors to do the job for us,” Rev. Brew explained.

The issue of examination malpractices has become so alarming to the extent that invigilators sometimes pose as candidates, register and sit the examination on behalf of students.

“This is how far the malpractice goes”, Rev. Brew said.

Currently, there are no special courts designed to tend to examination malpractices which makes the process of prosecution ‘lukewarm’, thereby failing to deter candidates from engaging in these practices.

According to Rev. Brew, the power to prosecute is “a whole technical area”, adding that WAEC was still in the process of ensuring that “the council gets lawyers eligible to prosecute our cases”.

He cautioned worriedly that if the predicament is not resolved, investments being made by the government into the educational sector would go down the drain as the sector would be producing “half-baked” students incapable of carrying out the duties expected of them.