WAEC’s Handling of Delayed WASSCE Results Raises Concerns
Story By: Rebecca Okine
Senior Lecturer at Accra Technical University, Daniel Osabutey, has raised concerns about delays in the West African Examinations Council’s (WAEC) investigations into suspected examination malpractice cases which has caused it to withhold some results since last year.
Speaking to the New Finder, Mr. Osabutey explained that WAEC’s practice of researching alleged examination malpractices is not new, but the delay this time raises some concerns.
“Any time WAEC suspects any form of examination malpractice on the part of students, they conduct their research to confirm their suspicion or not,” Mr. Osabutey stated. “This time, because they released the results late, one would have thought that WAEC would have conducted their research before sharing the final results, however that was not done.”
Addressing the legal battle over the withheld results, Mr. Osabutey supported the procedural nature of the issue. “It is a procedure,” he noted, “and with the court directive, they have appealed, so let us leave it to the court to decide.”
Recent Court Ruling
A High Court in Accra has rejected an application by WAEC to delay the release of over 10,000 withheld WASSCE results, reinforcing its previous ruling that the results must be made public.
Justice Ali Baba Abature, in delivering the decision, dismissed WAEC’s request for a Stay of Execution, citing the council’s failure to provide sufficient justification for withholding the results. The court further imposed a GHC5,000 fine against WAEC.
WAEC-Court Case
The legal dispute began when the High Court granted an application for mandamus on January 30, 2025, compelling WAEC to release the 2024 WASSCE results of the affected candidates. The court criticised WAEC for providing vague and inconsistent reasoning, pointing to “alleged examination malpractice” and “alleged irregularities” without concrete evidence. Justice Abature further noted that WAEC’s own invigilators had not reported any significant breaches during the examinations. With the new ruling, WAEC is expected to release the withheld results further delay. However, the Council had earlier announced that it would release the results on February 28, 2025.
