Two students jailed over impersonation

IBANDA.

The Chief Magistrates Court in Ibanda has sentenced two female students of Light College of Business Studies to 15 months in prison after they pleaded guilty of impersonation.

Court presided over by Mr Godfrey Kaweesa on Wednesday heard that Phionah Murungi, 22, and Medius Natukunda, 24, were in 2013 involved in malpractices during the Uganda Business Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) examinations exercise.

Prosecution led by Ms Amos Mpaka told court that on December 11, 2013 at about 8.30am at Light College of Business Studies in Ibanda during UBTEB examinations; Natukunda, a second year student, was caught sitting a commerce paper on behalf of Ms Murungi of first year.

Lenience
The two pleaded guilty to the charges but prayed for lenience. The prosecution and the complainants asked court for a deterrent sentence urging that cases of examination malpractices are rampant and a challenge to the country in quest for skilled labour.

“This is a serious issue, we do not want malpractices to compromise the legality of our skills training in the country. We have seen the challenges of having unqualified people in some sectors, therefore those caught in exam malpractices, whether instructors, examiners or students need to be given deterrent sentence to serve as a warning to others,’’ Mr Paul Amoru, the UBTEB public relations officer, said during the trial.

In his ruling, Mr Kaweesa said: “The accused are first time offenders, have pleaded guilty and they seem to be remorseful. Nonetheless there is need to impose a deterrent sentence to send a warning signal to other would be offenders.”

He sentenced the duo to 15 months in prison with an alternative of paying a fine of Shs500,000 in cash.

‘This is a serious issue, we do not want malpractices to compromise the legality of our skills training in the country,’
Mr Paul Amoru, UBTEB public relations officer.