Who is blocking appointment of Registrar at GCE Board?.

Authorities were quick to respond to vacancy, opting for a Transition Management Team in October 2023.  The team has at its helm, Bernadette Ndi Frinwie, Director of Test Development and Research.

Members of the team are Evelyn Mesambe Ngole, Director of Technical Services, and Shutang Jonathan Nimimungo, Director of Test Administration as members.

Amid holding the forth in running the Board, those who know the blood and sweat that flowed for Anglophones to have the GCE Board say, the institution is increasingly being handled with levity. 

They are insisting that given its place in vetting candidates, preparing for academic advancement with the goal of producing citizens vital in nation building, what has been happening at the Board is worrisome.

With the Transition Management Team, led by Ndi now organising its third consecutive certificate exam session, many say it is shocking that till date, a new Registrar has not been named to properly handle the affairs of the Board.

Critics are citing and rightly so, the recent leakage, which the Board and the Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, announced in this year’s exams, as something not unrelated to the management structure of the Board.

They argue that if a Registrar had been put in place, issues such as the current challenges may have been avoided. 

To them, a Registrar would have been the person to blame in case of anything since the occupant of the office has the fully powers to run the exams and the Board.

Analysts say no matter how good the individuals in the Transition Management Team are, they are weak and lack the full powers to act and take responsibility for any wrongdoing.

Failing to serve next generation?

Unlike the traditional narrative of Anglophones often throwing the blame at Francophones and crying marginalisation over certain issues, what has been playing out at the GCE Board for the past three years is rather stirring at Anglophone decision-takers in the face. 

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute, and the Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, are key Anglophones in the chain who are expected to have presented names to President Biya for the appointment of the GCE Board Registrar.

While there are those who see PM Dion Ngute and Nalova Lyonga as having failed in getting a Registrar for the GCE Board, those who know the complexities of government positions are firm that is there something happening more than meets the eye.

End delay, restore Board’s dignity 

To right the wrongs, the confusion surrounding this year’s GCE, several stakeholders are saying, opens an emergency opening for PM Dion Ngute and Minister Nalova Lyonga to act without further delay and get President Biya to appoint a Registrar at the GCE Board. 

Those who believe that it is a key file that touches on the future of thousands of citizens that has been neglected for too long, say the Head of State must treat it as a matter of urgency.

NW, SW dynamics in Board leadership

The GCE Board has since 1993 largely functioned along the lines of what is believed to be a gentleman’s arrangement that its top positions viz; the Registrar and Chairperson of its Board of Directors rotate between the North West and South West Regions.

The last Registrar before the late Dang, Sir Humphrey Ekema Monono, headed the Board for 12 years. He maintained standards and quality. 

He gave way for the late Dang in 2018. For the few years that Dang was at the helm, the Board, amid the crisis in the North West South West Regions, scaled through, organising exams without scandals.

Before Monono, Azong Wara Andrew headed the Board from 1994 to 1997, as its pioneer Registrar. Dr Omer Weyi Yembe took over, lasting till 2006 when Monono came in.

For the Board Chairpersons; it has moved from SN Dio as pioneer, before Prof Herbert Nganjo Endeley took over, lasting nine years. He was replaced by Prof Peter Alange Abety, from 2006 to 2018, when Prof Leke Tambo was appointed.

On October 22, 2018, Biya signed a decree reorganising the Board, changing the name of the Registrar to Director General and limiting its Board members.

Prof Leke Tambo’s mandate has expired, based on the 2017 law, which makes the mandates of Board Chairpersons three years renewable twice. 

It is now believed that the next Registrar should naturally be a tutor of mettle of South West extraction. 

This, is even what some are saying, makes the prolonged temporary leadership questionable, especially given that the PM Dion Ngute and Minister Nalova Lyonga are also all worthy son and daughter of the South West Region.

Merit unable to align with politics?

In the thinking of those with a deep understanding of power dynamics, getting an ideal Registrar from the South West Region is not an equation PM Dion Ngute and Nalova Lyonga can’t help President Biya to solve. 

In the thinking of those trying to wrap their heads around what has been going on for three years, this could be a rare situation, given that at the centre of the melodrama are individuals with known integrity, perceived to being limited because of political dynamics.

The absence of a Registrar at the GCE Board, others are venturing to argue, may not be unconnected to which Division in the South West Region produces the next boss of the institution. 

Stakeholders are unanimous that the GCE Board needs a Registrar and urgently, to uphold its integrity. They consider it a hot file, which the Presidency must handle without delay.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3814 of Thursday June 11, 2026