President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday picked Kenya National Examinations Council chairman George Magoha to take over from Amina Mohamed as Education Cabinet Secretary.
The former University of Nairobi vice-chancellor is a no-nonsense man who never minces his words.
At the university, he was nicknamed buffalo because of his strictness. Born in 1952, Prof Magoha became the first public servant to be competitively appointed when he took over the reigns at the UoN in 2005.
He served as VC for 10 years.
At the UoN, Magoha transformed the institution that had been synonymous with student strikes into a centre of excellence.
His record as a no-nonsense administrator saw him appointed, by President Kenyatta, as the chairman of Knec in 2016.
His immediate task was to reform the council that had been rocked by years of exam cheating. Magoha stopped the the academic dishonesty and corruption that bedevilled the exam system.
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Known by his many directives and impeccable suits, Magoha has earned a place in the hearts of many Kenyans.
“Prof George Magoha deserves that position,” @RoadAlertsKE tweeted after news of his nomination to the Education docket broke out.
@AnnLorna1 said the nomination of Magoha as Education CS was long overdue.
“The best nomination is that of my former VC. We need to see axes fall on the corrupt CSs and other public servants to make sure we recover all the looted cash,” she said.
“Our good professor George Magoha is the best for Education Ministry anyway. I hope he will be given a good environment to fix the ministry. No politicking,” @Salomelugard tweeted.
Magoha is from Gem constituency in Siaya. Area MP Elisha Odhiambo congratulated him thus on twitter: “Congratulations Magoha. You are equal to the task. The people of Gem are forever glad for your resilience and hard work.”
@wanjikumugane said, “Thank you Mr President. We can’t thank you enough for appointing George Magoha to be the CS of Education. Our Education standards are bound to improve.”
Magoha, the man whose 80-page CV has a table of contents and names of 53 countries he’s visited, is credited with dismantling cartels that had propagated exam cheating for years and restoring credibility in the tests.
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Under his watch, Knec experienced various changes including faster marking of exams and the purchase of 415 containers to secure papers. Knec was seen as having an exemplary technocrat who is not a push-over. He is a man of intellectual substance and proven management acumen.
He had warned that schools found cheating will be closed and their management held responsible.
In November last year, Magoha blamed parents for failing to spend enough time with their children. He attributed the failure to the many pregnancies reported during the KCPE and KCSE exams.
Magoha’s term as Knec chair was to end this month at the expiry of his three-year tenure. Uhuru saw it fit to promote him in reward for a job well done.
Previously, Magoha headed the Commission for University Education, a reign that ended in 2013 after his appointment in 2005.
Magoha is a business graduate from Stanford University and was awarded the Moran of the Burning Spear and Elder of the Burning Spear by Uhuru.
He is a professional surgeon and has headed the Association of Medical Councils of Africa and the Kenya Association of Urological Surgeons.
He is currently the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board chairman.
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