Of the 51 principal secretaries (PSs) nominated to various dockets in November 2022, some have now crafted their identities around the designations they got at the time.
Then there is Prof Julius Kibet Bitok, who is now in his third docket since featuring in that list of 51. He was initially in the Citizen Services PS before he was moved to Basic Education in March 2025.
On Tuesday, he was transferred to the Tourism docket amid a surging wave of unrest in secondary schools, throughout which he had insisted that the academic calendar wouldn’t be altered because of disturbance in a handful of institutions.
He went on record speaking dismissively of the restlessness in learners, describing their actions using a swear word made famous by Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta whenever he was upset.
“Out of 9,500 secondary schools in Kenya, it’s only less than 80 schools which are creating problems,” he said.
“We have asked the boards of management and school management to reconsider even postponing mock exams,” he had said.
In a separate address, he had noted: “We have told the principals and the teachers: don’t force these students to do exams. Negotiate with them.”
His re-designation, signed by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, came just a day after the National Security Advisory Committee met to discuss the unrest in schools among other issues.
As per the Education ministry website, there are 12 roles of the Basic Education PS, which include overseeing early childhood, primary, secondary, and teacher training institutions.
The PS also provides oversight over 11 government bodies that include the Kenya National Examinations Council.
Prof Julius Kibet Bitok, who is now in his third docket since being nominated as a principal secretaries (PS) in November 2022.
Photo credit: John Nyagah | Nation Media Group
In his new role, he will now be in charge of “tourism promotion, policy formulation, and development of the tourism industry in Kenya” as listed on the Tourism ministry’s website.
In joining the Tourism PS docket, he swapped places with John Lekakeny Ololtulaa, an educationist who started off as an assistant teacher in 1993 and rose through the ranks to become a regional director of education.
Some might say the swap is a vindication of what National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah said in January about Prof Bitok amid the chaos that defined the transition of learners in the competency-based curriculum to Grade 10.
“You have the most clueless PS in the Ministry of Education. He only sits in Nairobi and has no idea what goes on (in) the ground. Get out of your office in Nairobi, go to the ground, deal with the problem there,” said Mr Ichung’wah.
Was his transfer a silent way of being schooled on how to run the sensitive docket? The jury is out.
Prof Bitok is a finance scholar. He studied economics for his undergraduate degree at Moi University; business administration for his master’s at the University of Nairobi; and finance for his PhD jointly at Oklahoma State University and Moi University.
He has also been nursing ambitions to run for the Uasin Gishu governorship seat. Political analyst Masibo Lumala told NTV that Prof Bitok’s new docket might place a slow bump as he had been moving regularly around Uasin Gishu as the Education PS.
“I don’t think Uasin Gishu is very famous for tourism. So, I’m not so sure that he’s going to have the same wherewithal of visiting the county and being able to share in the activities within the county as it was when he was the Principal Secretary for Basic Education,” he said.
On Friday, Prof Bitok announced on X that he had taken over his new office.
“Kenya’s tourism sector holds immense promise, and realising our target of five million international visitor arrivals by 2027 will require all of us to work together with a shared sense of purpose,” he posted.
Will the former High Commissioner to Pakistan be getting another tour or some more schooling? It is a wait-and-see.
