Former Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Prof. George Magoha on Tuesday passed away at Nairobi hospital.
He is reported to have collapsed at home before being rushed to hospital where efforts to resuscitate him proved futile.
Prof. Magoha, 71-year-old was a a consultant surgeon, academic administrator and technocrat, who served as a professor of surgery at Maseno University School of Medicine in Kisumu county.
The late Magoha undertook his primary education in Yala and Nairobi before joining Starehe Boys Centre and Strathmore College for his high school education in Kenya. He then proceeded to the University of Lagos where he pursued his interest in medicine.
In his 91-page CV, which he submitted when he was being vetted for the CS position in 2019, Magoha described himself as “a top grade Professor of Urological and Transplant Surgery since 2000 at the University of Nairobi trained in Nigeria, Ghana, Ireland and United Kingdom.”
In 1988 he joined the University of Nairobi as a lecturer in Urological Surgery before becoming a Surgery Professor.
He also served as the Chairman of the Academic Department of Surgery, Dean of the School of Medicine, and Principal of the College of Health Sciences.
He became a hero in the education sector during his tenure at the helm of the University Of Nairobi Health Sciences Department.
In 2005, he rose to the position of UoN Vice Chancellor due to his ambition and practical leadership skills.
His heroism was displayed when he accomplished what previous Vice-Chancellors had been unable to: sanity and accountability at the finance department as well as quality teaching and discipline of university students. He retired from the position in 2014.
In 2016 he was appointed to Chair the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) where he also brought changes.
Cases of exam leakage, cheating, alleged cartels in the sector, and questionable marking techniques were drastically reduced.
In 2019, he was nominated as the Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Kenyan Cabinet and was sworn in on 26 March 2019, replacing Amina Mohamed, who was transferred to the Sports docket.
The former Education CS was married to the gynecologist, Barbara Odudu of Nigerian origin and they were blessed with one child, Michael Augustus Magoha, who is also a doctor by profession.