Accra, June 14, GNA - Mr Rashid Pelpuo, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa Central, on Tuesday called on the Government to initiate a comprehensive investigation into the issue of examination leakages and other improprieties both past and present in all public universities including the Ghana Office of the West Africa Examination Council to get to the root of the matter. He said such an investigation should go beyond specific cases of examination leakages currently going on now and that this should be done with the view of getting to the root of the matter, and how to completely eliminate all such embarrassing and image shuttering academic dishonest practices in the academic life of the nation.

Mr Pelpuo made the call in a statement to the House on examination leakages in the universities and other centres of learning. "Ghana has gone too far in our academic life to still be grappling with such fundamental problems in our academic institutions. We can nip this in the bud with a thorough investigation and by exposing the ills in our academic institutions and deal with them so as to maintain our image and reputation in the academic world."

The MP said Ghana had always been widely respected in the academic world and its universities and, therefore, the country could not be sacrificed on the altar of dishonest practices by a tiny minority, who would insist on circumventing the rules of examination practices, thus dragging the hard won reputation of the nation in the mud. "By all standards allegations of examination leakages touch the very credibility and goodwill of the university or institution in question. It pre-supposes that the human material that we produce from these learning centres and especially our universities are not of the quality we present to the world of work. "It has a serious implication on the type of leadership we produce to run the affairs of this country and also brings the very nerve centre of our educational system and social fabric to question."

Mr Pelpuo said apart from the erosion of confidence the outside world would have in the academic institutions; it also had the potential of destroying the future of many innocent students. He said the fact that this dishonourable practice was fast gaining grounds in the universities in terms of frequency and intensity was a matter of serious public concern and calls for some drastic action.