Former Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha contemplated resigning on at least two occasions during his three-and-a-half years at Jogoo House, underlining his reputation as perhaps the most principled of the ministers that served in the Uhuru Kenyatta administration.
One of the incidents, which made Prof Magoha, who died last week, hand in his resignation, was over the decision by the University of Nairobi to appoint Prof Stephen Kiama as vice-chancellor after the then Education Cabinet secretary had revoked it through a gazette notice.
“He [Magoha] once wanted to resign. A decision was made but was later reversed and he felt like he had been thrown under the bus. I had to call Prof Kiama to the office, and we had a small chat,” recalled former Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho on Tuesday.
What he didn't disclose is that Magoha had also come close to quitting the Uhuru Cabinet the previous year.
He had sat back, staring at the letter in front of him with detachment. The Education Cabinet secretary was furious, but also flustered.
It was in November 2020 and the letter had come from then-chairperson of Public Service Commission (PSC) Stephen Kirogo, warning the CS of a misdemeanour and stripping him of some roles within the Education ministry.
This came hard on the heels of an incident where the CS had publicly reprimanded then Uasin Gishu County Director of Education Gitonga Mbaka during an inspection of Langas Primary School in Eldoret town.
“Would I be lying if I said you are a fool?” the CS had blasted the official, triggering outrage in the country, and particularly in the education fraternity.
“How could he undermine me?” the furious CS asked, his mood tanked, and ego wounded. Under the structure of the Executive, the chairperson of the PSC is a rank lower than a CS.
Details have now emerged of intrigues in the past regime where superiority battles, sabotage, humiliation and competition among senior members of the Executive nearly forced out the boorish CS.
“I would rather resign from Cabinet than be ordered by a junior,” the source recalls Magoha vowing.
But even as he swore not to engage Kirogo, Magoha contemplated complying and signing the letter. He was a man under siege.
“I found him in a pensive mood in his office. He asked me if he should sign the letter,” recounts Prof Simon Gicharu, chairman of the National Association of Private Universities in Kenya.
Prof Gicharu had visited Magoha to discuss the reopening of medical training facilities in the country to boost the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amid the gloom, Magoha still oozed passion for education and was eager to see the medical schools reopened.
“During a time of war, do you stop training more soldiers or do you train even more?” Prof Gicharu recalls Magoha asking him.
But the closure of schools being a presidential directive, the CS was somewhat powerless. Meanwhile, the contents of the letter still hung on Magoha’s mind like a shroud.
“He was so frustrated in government. He told me it is only in a dysfunctional government where a junior officer gives orders to his seniors,” Prof Gicharu adds.
“I would respond ‘if the letter had come from Kinyua [Head of Public Service]. Not from a colleague.'”
He recalls asking the CS during the conversation if the appointing authority, that is the President, had spoken to him about it, to which he said he had not.
“I asked him to wait until his boss had communicated to him,” he says. Magoha would claim that his troubles had been engineered by a powerful Cabinet colleague.
“To me, there is no senior or junior minister in the government. We are all equal,” Magoha had said with disdain for his colleague.
A source tells Business Daily that Magoha was being targeted due to “the gusto with which he approached his work” and that some colleagues were attempting “to slow him down”.
The CS, though, was relentless and unstoppable. “Some individuals want to appear to be working harder than others. They do not want to be outdone,” Magoha had revealed to our source.
Asked if he would bow to pressure from education stakeholders across the country and apologise to Dr Mbaka, Magoha was adamant.
“Not at all. Whatever I did was for the good of learners and education. If people do not like my [leadership] style, they should focus on the results,” the CS defended himself.
The CDE, though, was not the only education official on the receiving end of outbursts from Magoha during his tenure that was mired in controversy.
Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) CEO Mercy Karogo and the former Technical and Vocational Education principal secretary were also publicly humiliated by Magoha at different times.
During a routine inspection in Kakamega County, the CS told off the regional director of education, Mr Stephen Barongo, saying he was in the wrong job.
Meanwhile, officials at ministry headquarters at Jogoo House and county directors of education had repeatedly accused Magoha of threatening and intimidating them.
Those close to Magoha, however, argue that despite his sometimes-coarse approach to issues, he did not mean harm to anyone. He also held no grudges.
“Once he reprimanded you, that was it. The matter would end there,” says Prof Gicharu, adding that passion for his job sometimes made him impatient with people.
Magoha never did acknowledge the letter from Kirogo (now deceased) nor respond to him, which put the matter to rest.
Upon Prof Magoha’s passing, Dr Mbaka, who has since retired, said he holds no grudge against him.
“I have no issues with the late. As my senior in authority, he owes me nothing. He was a gallant civil servant. May his soul rest in peace,” Dr Mbaka told the Business Daily .
