George Magoha was sworn in as Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Education, on March 26, 2019. He is a Professor of Transplant Surgery.
Before his appointment as Cabinet Secretary, Magoha was the Chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) where he served from March 09, 2016 to March 08, 2019. He was also an Honorary Consultant Surgeon and Urologist at Kenyatta National Hospital and Nairobi Hospital.
He was the very first public servant to be competitively appointed in an educational capacity in January 2005 when he joined the University of Nairobi (UoN) as the vice-chancellor. Magoha was the longest-serving (12 years) member of the Governing Board of Association of African Universities (AAU) which is an association that convenes to discuss matters African Universities as listed on his CV, though he left in 2017.
Magoha visited more than 100 Universities internationally in the 10 years he was the VC creating a Memorandum of Understanding with the international educational centres. He initiated the two graduations per year at UoN of which previously, students faced challenges with the one graduation per year system thus delaying their graduation. The two graduations per year were previously practiced in private universities.
Additionally, the professor has published 59 research papers in reputed international and national journals mostly on sexual dysfunction. In his career, he served as President of the Association of the Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) which is an international body for Medical bodies in Africa from 2013 to 2015.
During his tenure in 2019, Magoha launched the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) amid a huge opposition from teachers led by Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general Wilson Sossion.
"When I decide to do something, I do it and have never failed. Let us stop wasting time talking. The CBC train left the station in January; there's no going back. We'll not fail under my leadership," Magoha had asserted in April.
He has also overseen the speedy release of KCSE 2019 results in the footsteps of former Education CS Fred Matiang'i, bringing an end to a previously agonising wait for candidates and parents.