Police boss Mathew Iteere has hinted that the 2011 KCSE in North Eastern province was marred by irregularities, but absolved his officers from blame.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Iteere however refused to provide a categorical answer on whether the cancellation of the exams results of 16,000 candidates was warranted, saying investigations are going on.

He told the committee chaired by Mosop MP David Koech there is a lot to be drawn from the fiasco surrounding the 2009 National Populations Census and the cancellation of last year KCSE in the three counties in the area.

"There was a big national event that happened in 2009 and we know what happened in that part of our country. One year down the line we have examination from the same area being cancelled on allegations of irregularities.

The question why the same geographical area? As a country we must get proper solution to this challenges. We must call a spade a spade," he said.

Iteere told the committee that the role of police officers in the management of examination was limited to escorting the exam materials from the Knec headquarters to examination centres and back.

He said the police are tasked to ensure the materials are not tampered with while on transit. "If the examination is not held the officers must take the materials to the nearest police station for custody," he said.

He said the materials are then stored in a container that is then locked in the armoury with the examination official taking the key of the container away.

"Details of the materials being collected from the armoury must be entered in the Occurence Book on whether they were collected in the right condition or otherwise," he said.

He further said the police officers could not be involved exam malpractice because "they are not allowed to enter examination halls" and that only "witness" the screening of the candidates by the invigilators.

Iteere further told the committee that it has become a tradition for the police to second CID officers to Knec during the examination period.

"They are supposed to gather intelligence on leakages and develop any pre-emptive measures," he said. However he could not answer when asked by Kiharu MP Muturi Mwangi on whether the officers had pre-empted any incidence..