In negotiations, he knew when to play hardball and extract a concession, and when to back down, play meek and look the other way, pretending to allow the opposing team to win against him.
The former Education CS died on Tuesday from cardiac arrest after collapsing four times.
He was aged 71 and leaves behind his wife Barbara and son Michael.
He always spoke his mind with authentic frankness that assured all who dealt with him that however adversarial he seemed, he was honest and stood in pursuit of his core belief.
He became the vice chancellor of the University of Nairobi in 2004 when the wind of activism and political freedom was sweeping across the country. Then President Mwai Kibaki had just risen to power in the Narc wave after President Daniel Moi retired.
Student activists became even more energised. Student Organisation of Nairobi University (Sonu) leaders would frequently organise protests and the demonstrations would turn violent and police officers would swing into action.
But Magoha would approach the protest with an open mind. But two things remained constant-the VC would warn that he would be physically involved against you if you became violent or he would sit with you and solve the issues if you were peaceful.
In 2012, students from the University of Nairobi’s College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences at Upper Kabete campus, where this writer was at, organised a protest.
Student leaders ensured learning was disrupted in all lecture halls on campus. They demanded that all students must board the bus to the main campus and meet the vice chancellor.
At the main campus, the students displaced their colleagues who were being taught at Taifa Hall and demanded to occupy the facility until the vice chancellor came to address them. They sustained the protest for over an hour until the VC came.
He came down the stairs and motioned for the students to sit quiet so he could hear them. The placard waving student leaders sustained the shouting.
Then suddenly, Magoha brandished a pistol. The hall froze.
“I never walk without a gun on me, and I don't hesitate to use it. If you came here to talk to me, I have left more important issues to hear you. But if you are just a rowdy crowd, you will know that I’m rowdier than you,” Magoha shouted.
He then returned his gun to its case and put it on a stool next to his seat. He then motioned to the dean of students Fr Kimani Wamugunda to conduct the meeting and invite the student leaders to speak.
“I will put it [the gun] here in the open. Tell me what has brought you here,” he added. You could hear a pin drop in the hall.
The meeting went on for more than 40 minutes and the students left satisfied, with Magoha giving positive assurances on their grievances.
It was the norm for Magoha to pull his gun and put it on the table when talking to hardcore rowdy student leaders known for organising vandalism.
As a Cabinet Secretary, he kept time and hardly kept journalists waiting.
But in one incident at a Kiambu school where he had an early morning engagement in 2021, the journalists waited on him for over two hours and when he concluded the event, he did not speak to them.
His motorcade sped off, leaving his communications team with nothing to tell the reporters.
At a next engagement in Nairobi, reporters were at hand to cover him. He observed the time and when time came to address them, the reporters walked out.
One of them told the CS that they did not take kindly his mistreatment of journalists in the Kiambu event.
Magoha profusely apologised and committed to a cordial working relationship with journalists.
“I will buy you guys lunch today,” he said. He then turned to his aides and ordered that each reporter at the event be sent Sh5,000 for lunch.
The CS was not afraid to pile pressure on his team leaders. He approached a task from the end and worked in reverse.
“I work from the objective backwards. I know there are processes in achieving something but you follow those things and end up with no output. If you doubt my outcome, see the University of Nairobi tower,” he told members of Parliament on March 14, 2019 when he was being be vetted to be the Education CS.
He told the MPs that his style was to delegate but not completely.
"If you delegate completely you lose control. I will give you a job, receive the report and say thank you very much but will go back and verify before signing off."
His style seemed to work. For the 10 years he led the university, the institution got rated the best public institution in a long time.
When he became the chairman of Knec in 2016, he eliminated national exam cheating.
Magoha was proud of his work at the university, citing how he built the dean, department’s and principal’s office at the university’s medical school when he joined the administration.
