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Magoha: As Uhuru’s handymen, we will go with him


Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha has thanked President Uhuru Kenyatta for appointing him to be in charge of the Education docket.

In what appears to be a valedictory message, the no-nonsense CS also said that he will be leaving office once President Kenyatta vacates office.

“Eagles always just keep flying. When the eagle is going, it just disappears into the air. That is just what is going to happen to us. As the president’s handymen you expect us to go with him,” Prof Magoha said.

The Prof said that his toughest moment serving as the Education CS was during the Covid-19 time, when the school calendar had to be altered.

The CS said that it was during the field work outside the office when he discovered his life after accessing the situation in the slums. Prof Magoha spoke on Wednesday when he commissioned phase two CBC classroom at Mwangaza Secondary School in Kayole, Nairobi County.

“Having been thought at university for 42 years, I think I only discovered my life when I came to the Ministry of Education and went to the slums where I was ordered by the President to go. That is where the life is sad, perhaps that is where the next CS should be encouraged also to go, not to work from Jogoo House because when you work at Jogoo House you see a lot of things that are not there.”

His address comes hours before students report back to schools after a break that was due to the general election exercise.

The CS was appointed to the Education docket in March 2019 after serving as chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), a position that he held from 2016.

As Education CS, Prof Magoha has been in charge of transformation in the school syllabus, and training of teachers to march with the new CBC syllabus.

President-elect William Ruto is expected to name his cabinet after taking the oath of office, in the event that there is no petition challenging his victory or if the Supreme Court rules in his favour should there be a such a petition.