How We Have Been Working At The GCE Board -Akoko

  Interviewed By Francis Tim Mbom

Last week, a renowned educationist  and former Minister In charge Of Special Duties At The Presidency Of The Republic, Dr. Peter Alange Abety, was appointed Chairman of the General Certificate of Education Board, GCE Board, in replacement of Dr. Herbert Nganjo Endeley, who held the position for some nine years.

While speculations as to who would be imminently appointed to replace Dr. Omer Weyi Yembe, as Registrar of the Board, one of the Deputy Registrars and architects of the project, Matthew Akoko, assesses the road so far traveled since the examination body was instituted in 1994. Akoko, hints at what it takes to make a good Registrar. Excerpts:

Would you want to react to the appointment of Dr. Peter Alange Abety, as Chairman of the Cameroon GCE Board Council?

Dr. Abety replaces Dr. Endeley, someone for whom I have very high respect. Dr Endeley has done a lot to move the Board to where it is today and needs to be appreciated and congratulated for that. My reaction is in two perspectives. Firstly, I am happy that the Head of State has again appointed someone with a profound knowledge of the functioning of the GCE Board.

I worked with Dr Abety as member of the Commission appointed to write the text of application of the Presidential Decree that created the GCE Board. Dr Abety also served as a member of the pioneer Council of the Board. He is an educationist, with a very high profile.
Secondly, and on a personal perspective, if the appointment of Dr. Abety who hails from the Northwest Province, presupposes that the next Registrar will be from Southwest, then this automatically eliminates me and any other Northwesterner from the race of the next Registrar of the GCE Board.

Though it is not written, it is understood that the GCE Board, which serves mainly the two English Speaking Provinces, would have the Chairman from one of the English speaking Provinces and the Registrar from the other.

What would have been your chances of acceding to the position of Registrar if this had not happened?

Very high. I have a mastery of almost all examination processes at the GCE Board, including all those in the Division of Technical Services, where I am Deputy Registrar and those in the Division of Examinations. In fact a good number of staff at the Board work across services.  There is hardly any process at the GCE Board in which I have not taken part, either as a Coordinator or Supervisor.

I also have good knowledge of how similar examining bodies function through visits and meetings I have held with officials of such organisations both in Africa and in the United Kingdom, UK. I was a member of the Commission created in the Prime Minister's Office, to study the creation of the GCE Board.

As said earlier, I was also a member of the Commission created in the former Ministry of National Education to write the text of application of the decree creating the GCE Board.  From this background, I fully understand the mission of the Board and have a long working experience with the Board because I started working on it before it was created. I have the qualification and experience.

I am not claiming monopoly of experience at the Board. There are other staff of the Board who have the qualification and experience to hold the post of Registrar.

From all indications your hopes of becoming the next Registrar have been compromised, dashed. Are you disappointed? Do you still have a future at the Board?

No, no, no! I don't feel disappointed as such. On a balance, I appreciate the switch. We all have egos and ambitions and we must not allow them go above the general good of the society. I appreciate the fact that, this time around, the post of Chairman of Council has gone to the Northwest and post of Registrar would go to the Southwest. This is mere speculation. 

It is my guess that Dr. Yembe would be allowed to carry through some of the innovations he started - like the Multiple Choice Questions, MCQs, before leaving the Board. As regards my future at the Board, if I am allowed to continue, I will carry on my functions as conscientiously as before, irrespective of who is appointed Registrar. I have worked with two Registrars and they are alive to testify the high level of cooperation and support they received from me.

There have been newspaper reports to the effect that your term of office expired some time back. Could this be true?

Which article of the text of application gives terms of office to Deputy Registrars? It is unfortunate that we live in a society where people talk on issues they have no knowledge of. Let me seize this opportunity to clarify this issue of terms of office for positions at the GCE Board. I speak as a member of the Commission that drafted the text of application, which newspaper reports have always referred to.

It is only the Registrar and some members of Council, that is, representatives of parents, teachers and private education who have terms of office that are renewable after three years. It must also be understood that there is no limitation to the number of terms. That is, the Registrar can serve the Board for as long as he or she continues to enjoy the support of the Council and the tutelage Ministry.

They can renew his or her term as many times as they wish. Registrars of similar exam boards have held the office of the Registrar for as long as 25 years. The Chairperson of Council has no term of office. He or she is appointed by the Head State and would hold that office for as long as the Head of State deems it necessary.

Deputy Registrars are appointed on the recommendation of the Council and do not have any terms of office. This is contained in Article 22. This is same for other appointed officers of the Board such as the Examination Officers. A Deputy Registrar or Examination Officer, could, at any time, be recommended by Council to be relieved of his or her functions if need arises.

It would have been ruinous to have a situation where the technocrats or workers of an institution like the GCE Board are placed on terms of offices. The GCE Board text of application is not a secret document. The fact that it was published in the Official Gazette makes it a public document. You could obtain a copy and verify what I have said.

What is your reaction to newspapers reports that the present Registrar marginalizes the Southwesterners working at the Board?

This is an opinion expressed by somebody and I don't like to talk about it. The staff who are said to be marginalized are better placed to talk on that. If the author of that article is acting on behalf of those he claims are being marginalized, then it's unfortunate. I am not sure that a problem at the GCE Board can be resolved through such means. The GCE Board is an institution with mechanisms for resolving internal problems.

I have, occasionally, had disagreeable moments with the Registrar and I have always expressed my dissatisfaction through a memo, followed by a discussion on the issue with the Registrar. To me, this is normal. It would be superfluous to think that people would be engaged in the very tasking processes at the GCE Board without hurting each other's feelings at certain stages.

Let me stress here, that the Registrar, as Chief Executive of the Board, has the prerogative to use any staff he deems fit to accomplish a specific task. I wonder if the staff in question subscribes to the view expressed in the article. The two Deputy Registrars proposed the two drivers mentioned in the report to the Registrar for recruitment and it is a mere coincidence that they hail from Donga Mantung. 

The Registrar's secretariat has four staff all from the Southwest. I have three staff attached to my office and two are from Southwest. The staff in charge of the most sensitive service in my office is from Southwest and besides my secretary; it is this staff who runs my office. This staff was the first to be appointed to my office and has remained my most trusted.

There is no Examination Officer, EO, whose attached staff hail from the same Province as the EO. This is not by policy but a mere coincidence. We do not work on the basis of which Province one comes from. My advice is that staff at the Board should hold discussions with the Registrar on disturbing issues and not allow fictitious newspapermen to pick up some sketchy information from bars or quarters and start writing on.

The Board officials have been holding seminars on Multiple Choice Questions, MCQs. What has been achieved so far through this and what is the future of this form of testing in the GCE Exams?

This is an issue, which the Registrar is holding discussions on with the Minister. I'd rather not comment on it.

We understand that you have been providing services to some international organisations from which the Board has been harvesting financial benefits.

The scheme is still on but of late, I hardly have the time to visit the countries for the purpose of work. I have usually performed those services during my leave periods. I decided to take a rest during my last two leave periods.

We hear that the examination processes at the Board are automated, thanks to your expertise...

Yes, indeed, our examination processes are highly automated and I say so in comparison with what I have seen and discussed with officials of similar examination boards. Two years ago, we had a conference in Accra, Ghana, comprising of Heads of the Technical Services of all examination Boards in Central and West Africa. During the conference, my colleagues of the other Boards got interested in what we do at the GCE Board and the conference was extended by half a day to enable me share the GCE Board experience with them.

We have gone this far, thanks to the two Registrars that have been at the Board. We were appointed in March 1994 and we had to conduct our first examination within three months. I drew up a project to computerize the examination processes and despite some fears expressed by some of my colleagues because they thought the time was too short, the then Registrar Mr Azong-Wara, who had confidence in what I was proposing, allowed me to go ahead with the project.

So our first exams were computerized. With the coming of Dr. Yembe, we have gone far in the automation process from manual input of registration data and candidates' marks to using specialized scanners for data capture. 

This explains why complaints on candidates' names and dates of births have diminished since the data in the system is exactly what the candidates fill on the computerized forms and the scanner picks up this information. A more recent addition to our services involves the generation of output files, which contain all information on each candidate including photographs, signatures and thumbprints. We are now capable of printing Candidates Result Slips and Certificates with photographs, signature and thumbprint.

It is thanks to the technology in place that we are able to release the results at least a month earlier than before. Results can be ready within three to four days after marking, if we were not to spend days sorting out irregular or cases of examination malpractice. The automation of the examination processes is one of our greatest achievements at the Board.  It would be unfair to attribute these technological innovations to me alone.

If at all there are praises to be dished out, then the Registrar Dr. Yembe, deserves a giant share of it.  It is thanks to his vision and belief that ICT is the way forward for the GCE Board. The staff of the GCE Board must be praised for wholeheartedly embracing this technological innovation and for the contribution each made in promoting the process. We have gone this far because we exhibited a very high level of team spirit. It is my wish that this team spirit will continue, even after some of us would have left the Board.

What is the most crucial problem of the GCE Board?

The greatest problem the Board is facing is accommodation. We work under very tight and uncomfortable conditions. My office, like many others, is more of a store than an office. The environment is too noisy and not suitable for staff engaged in critical thinking or conception work.  Thanks to government for allocating land for the construction of Board offices. It is our wish that government would provide some investment budget for buildings to be put up as soon as possible.

Comments

[Martin Fru]

I write to praise the Azong-Wara and the Yembe Team for a job well done. The board and the University of Buea are the only 2 institutions left in our part of the country.
I remember how we faught hard in those days to get the board. I remember that day in Longla college mankon,when this same Dr Abeti brought a final-true copy of the text that created the board. He was almost lynched by our parents/teachers for the fake one that was created a week before. Thanks to pa Achidi-Achu, Arrey-Mbi, Azong-Wara and my former teacher pa Foche John, the baord was created.
It is time for our brothers of the SWP to take over the leadership at the Board.
God bless you all.

Martin Fru,
Baltimore, MD

[dango tumma]

democracy means representation,
the registrar of gce, is suppose to be
voted in office by the board memebers.
not by only one man ( BIYA) The governor, is suppose to be voted by the
citizens of their land, not chosen by only
one head (biya) T he directors of hospital. same, the president of university,
same. the county cleks, same . the police chief same. the magistrate same,
all society same. now that biya and his government are just the opposite.

how many people still think in 10yrs
their future is guarantee?

[Nduka Isaac]

Akoko Mathew well done and more grease to your elbow

[Lopsco]

Mr. Akoko,
Please do not mind the appointments. Keep doing your job as you have always done.

We like you enough as deputy registrar.

Congrats!

[Emah]

What borders me, is this issue of resistance to change.

Is it right for someone to stay in a public office for 25years?? A Public office is not a private business where you can stay a boss for life, Mr Akoko.

You are competent, no doubt about that, but doesn't mean you or who ever, competent or not should stay there for enternity. Then how and when will you ever have a successor?

The fact that you were in the committe that drafted the Document for the creation of the GCE board, doesn't give u or any other person right of eternity in any position of responsibility in the GCE board. I will not succumb to the idea of rotation, but if that is what the text says ,so be it. But i think performance based appointment or elections to post of responsibility should be the goalif we MUST move with development.

If somebody of competence is appointed,in life or death of Dr yembe, what is good that he has started and still to complete, be it the MCQ stuff, will be carried to completion and even more why not. People come and go and indeed must go, but their good works live on.This should be the spirit Mr deputy registrar.

This issue of clinging to position for "everlasting" My registrar is NOT GOOD.

Hope you are teaching and nuturing people who will take over from you soon, Not when all your energy is gone, your bones unable to carry your weight ,and your celebra cortex unable to distinguish between day and night.

Please let's run away from thIS DEADLY "cancer" of forever "PRESIDENT", "CHAIRMAN" "REGISTRAR"
"VICE CHANCELLOR"etc.

My 5 frs

[dango tumma]

APPOINTMENT OR ELECTION
WHICH ONE DO YOU BELIEVE IN (EMAH)
BECAUSE THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT OPPOSITE
MEANINGS.

DANGO TUMMA

[Itoe Francis Ebongue]

World Consumer Rights Day, A day to remenber. Program already certain while inviting media to step in for media Advocacy.

Itoe Francis Ebongue
President
Consumert Protection
P.O. Box 112 Buea
Tel. 727 75 97

[pride]

hello
mr name is billa pride
I need the number of somebody working in the GCE BOARD
Urgently
this is my number:655105284