KNEC CEO David Njengere summoned over failure to release withheld KCSE result

The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has been dragged back to court over its failure to release a KCSE result from 2024.

CEO David Njengere has been summoned by Justice Nixon Sifuna to personally appear on December 16, tasked with explaining why he should not face punishment for ignoring a court order.

The High Court has ordered that the exam result be issued within 14 days from November 25, 2025, ahead of the CEO’s hearing.

The issue started when a student from Lugulu Girls High School had her KCSE results withheld due to suspected exam irregularities.

Feeling aggrieved, the student approached the National Examinations Appeals Tribunal, which ruled on March 28, 2025, that Knec must reinstate her original marks and provide a valid result slip within 14 days.

More than eight months later, the order had still not been followed, prompting the student to move to the High Court seeking enforcement and asking that the Knec CEO be held in contempt of court, with a potential six-month jail term.

Knec, represented by Deputy Director of Research and Quality Assurance Andrew Otieno, argued that the agency could not be held in contempt because it had obtained a 30-day stay order from the High Court.

The student countered that the stay order issued on May 14, 2025, had expired, and there was no evidence it had been extended.

Justice Sifuna, in his ruling, noted that the orders were properly served on Njengere and that he was aware of his obligations.

“It is also an uncontested and undeniable fact that the said orders have not been complied with. What is in contest is whether that compliance is in defiance and whether there are in force any orders staying that order, to justify the continued withholding of the said examination result,” the judge said.

The judge underscored that court directives are mandatory, not optional. He said parties dissatisfied with orders must seek reviews or appeal rather than disobeying them.

“That is not the case here as the respondent and its CEO have continued protesting and lamenting the orders while justifying the very action that the tribunal found to be improper,” Sifuna stated.

He further clarified that stay orders automatically lapse when their time limit expires unless renewed, and Knec failed to prove otherwise.

The court, therefore, ruled in favour of the student, instructing Njengere to issue the KCSE result within 14 days from November 25.

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