President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday through an Executive Order, nominated Prof. George Magoha as the new Education Cabinet Secretary.
Mogoha, who is the outgoing chairman of the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), replaced Ambassador Amina Mohamed who was moved to the Sports ministry.
The choice of giving the mantle to Magoha was a commendable move as expressed by majority of Kenyans.
Leaders such as Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Homa Bay MP Gladys Wanga congratulated the the Knec chairman over the new role allocated to him.
Prof. Magoha is termed as the perfect fit for the Education docket due to his qualifications and the work done at KNEC that saw the examination process streamlined after years of trouble over exam cheating.
Honors and Education achievements of Magoha
The tough talking Knec chairman is an honorary consultant surgeon and a urologist at both Kenyatta National Hospital and Nairobi Hospital.
He served as the Vice-Chancellor of University of Nairobi (UON)from 2005 to 2015.
During his time as VC, he ensured that UoN achieved an “Excellent” rating in the Performance Contracting Evaluation for government institutions.
The leadership of Magoha ensured that UoN till to this day, was the only government institution to have ever achieved the rating.
Magoha, currently serves as the chairman of the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI).
Aside from being the head of the examination body in the Education ministry, the professor also headed the Commission for University Education (CUE), a reign that ended in 2013 after his appointment in 2005.
The no-nonsense Magoha, who is a business graduate from Stanford University, was awarded the titles Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) and Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS) by Kenyatta.
Aside from the Education sector, the surgeon has headed bodies such as Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) and Kenya Association of Urological Surgeons (KAUS).
Magoha reforms KNEC
His appointment as Knec chairman in 2016 was considered as a wrong move as many expected that he would not succeed in reforming the once flawed government body.
During a past interview in 2018, the chairman had stated that he was up for the task of ensuring changes were made to the examination system in the country.
Everything that I touch with these hands is blessed and goes to the end.
“We sat together and agreed that there was going to be a multi-sector approach to the management of examinations.
“This has been provided. If you are to judge us, judge us with what can be measured,” remarked Magoha.
He however insisted that the exams re-engineering processes that he had undertaken over the last three years still required more work.
Mogoha during last year’s national examination process, had pointed out that the biggest problems that faced the body was the examination cartels and parents who facilitated the purchase of fake examination papers for their children.
The reforms of dismantling the examination cartels who had for years held the process by the neck and restoring pride to Knec, puts him in a better position to ensure that the Education sector continues to be on the uprise.