Police in Kampala have arrested the Director of Earnest Nursery and Primary School, who has been on the run for the past two years, over allegations of forging Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results and certificates.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango identified the suspect as 34-year-old Ivan Wafula, the director of Earnest Nursery and Primary School in Kisugu Parish, Makindye Division.
According to reports from Kabalagala Police Division, the incident dates back to 2020, when Wafula allegedly registered Primary Seven candidates from his school for the national exams and transported them to an undisclosed location in Busia District, claiming they were sitting for genuine UNEB-administered papers.
However, investigations have revealed that the exams were conducted at an unidentified school and were not part of the official UNEB exercise.
After the supposed examinations, Wafula reportedly returned the pupils to Kampala and later issued forged PLE result slips and recommendation letters, which were used to secure admission to various secondary schools.
The scheme began to unravel this year when some of the affected students, who had advanced to Senior Four, were asked to produce their original PLE results before registering for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams.
“We asked four students who were due to sit for their Senior Four exams to provide their PLE result slips. When we checked them on the UNEB system, we discovered they belonged to other people,” explained John Pamba, Deputy Head Teacher of Ebenezer Secondary School.
“We involved the police, and it turned out the slips were fake, so we couldn’t register the students.”
Following the complaint, police investigations revealed that the alleged 2020 PLE papers were not genuine and that Nanyuma Primary School in Busia District — where the pupils had supposedly written the exams — had no record of receiving candidates from Earnest Nursery and Primary School.
The forged documents were recovered and sent to UNEB for verification, which confirmed they were falsified.
Onyango said Wafula had been evading arrest for two years but was eventually captured from a hideout in Kampala. He is currently detained as investigations continue.
As the 2025 PLE examinations draw closer, UNEB spokesperson Jennifer Kalule has cautioned parents and candidates to remain alert to schools or individuals promising shortcuts to exam success.
She noted that similar incidents have in the past left students stranded and unable to register for subsequent levels of education.
Kalule reminded the public that under the UNEB Act, anyone found guilty of engaging in examination malpractice faces a fine of up to Shs 20 million, a five-year prison sentence, or both.
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