To the University of Nairobi students, former Education CS George Magoha was a "Buffalo."
To many who worked with him in the education sector, the Former CS was simply a no-nonsense man.
But to George Albert Omore Magoha himself, he was simply the son of Magoha.
Magoha's 91-page CV paints a picture of a man with firm roots in the education sector.
It describes a man with zeal and gusto for handling tasks and responsibilities in a strict and professional manner.
How it Started
His journey to greatness began as an intern and rose to senior resident and clinical lecturer in surgery at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
He later before joined the University of Nairobi in 1988, where he became a full professor in 2000.
At The University of Nairobi where he served as the Vice-Chancellor, he was nicknamed a "Buffalo" because of his boldness in taking head-on anyone who rubbed him the wrong way.
He prides himself on many achievements including being the first vice-chancellor to be appointed competitively and whose leadership oversaw the completion of the construction of 22-storey university towers to 80 per cent.
During his tenure, student riots that had become a norm at Kenya's first university were quelled down.
His boldness, strict and no-nonsense character saw him appointed as the KNEC chair with direct responsibility of cleaning the mess and restoring sanity at the body accused of failing to tame exam irregularities.
With the dissolution of the KNEC board, It was a start from the scratch for Magoha, in his journey towards redeeming the lost integrity of the council.
Fighting examination cartels that were minting millions of shillings from candidates and school heads for exam leakages was his uphill task and cleaning the mess at KNEC was second.
The usual game of musical chairs of trying to fill the gap left was also among the daunting to-do list of the specialised neurosurgeon.
But if numbers don't lie, statistics on the number of exam irregularities reported during his era compared to before indicated significant progress towards eradicating exam cheating and cartels.
As a man who oversaw the transition to the Competency-Based Curriculum, the former Education CS defended the curriculum with unmatched vigor.
Despite immense pressure from stakeholders and doubting Thomases of the CBC, Magoha more often emerges to assure parents that the future of their children is safe with the CBC.
He was an educationist. He was a proud surgeon and father. He loved his job, especially in the education sector.
As Magoha rests, one thing he will definitely defend before the almighty is that CBC was the best gift that was given to the Kenyan children.
