Court convicts teacher over fake certificate

By Taonga Botolo

A primary school teacher identified as Feina Bunyani has been convicted for using her sister’s Junior Certificate to secure a teaching job in the civil service.

According to Ntcheu Magistrate Court records in our possession, Bunyani was nabbed by the graft bursting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2008 and pleaded guilty to all the counts.

The convict according to the records was charged with personating a person named in a certificate, false swearing and giving false information to a person employed in the public service.

teacher verification

ACB senior public relations officer Egrita Ndala confirmed the development to Nyasa Times.

She said Bunyani was found guilty and the court ordered her to pay a fine of K10, 000 or in default serve jail term of 15 months.

“On 2nd February, 2008, we received a complaint alleging that a teacher at Chimbani Primary School in Ntcheu used her younger sister’s certificate to get employed as a teacher with the Malawi Government.

“We instituted investigations into the matter. It was established that Feina Bunyani used her younger sister, Elida Bunyani’s Junior Certificate to get employed as a primary school teacher,” said.

Feina was later sentenced to ten months imprisonment with hard labour on the second and third counts but suspended to 18 months.

Meanwhile, Bunyani had narrowly escaped serving jail sentence by paying the fine.

Source : nyasatimes