Uhuru's CSs To Pay Fees For Children Sponsored By Magoha

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta's Cabinet Secretaries (CS) have offered to continue paying school fees for two children who were sponsored by former Education CS, the late Prof. George Magoha.

While addressing mourners and the family of the late Magoha, at Lavington, Nairobi, on Tuesday, January 31, former Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Matiang'i revealed that his colleagues who previously served in Uhuru's regime will make contributions to support the two children.

He further expressed that he could not leave them stranded on the account of Magoha's demise on Tuesday, January 24.

"There's only one request I have, and I was asked to make on behalf of my Cabinet colleagues...I'm told there are one or two kids that Prof Magoha was supporting for school fees. My cabinet colleagues, those of us who served with Magoha in Cabinet under the leadership of our President, we will make a contribution because the President told me to talk to my colleagues in Cabinet to see whether there's anything he can help us to do to support one or two of those kids that Magoha was supporting. 

"Let none of them be stranded on the account of our brother's departure," he said.

Matiang'i mourned Magoha as the driving force in the former Cabinet and was focused on his work, not entertaining any discussions to do with region or ethnicity.

"Prof. Magoha was solid and the turbo engine in our cabinet. In a country where every other day we are reminded about regions, which side is important and which region is in government, not once did he entertain a discussion about a person's ethnicity," he said.

On his part, former President Uhuru Kenyatta believed that he made the right choice by appointing the deceased to Cabinet, rubbishing critics who went after the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) to the point of carrying out reviews on it, a decision he termed would hamper the growth of learners.

"I believe that when I made him a minister, I made the right choice in putting him at the helm of the education sector. He was a man who deserved that position, and he continued to address curriculum challenges and brought on board a new education system.

"People may say whatever they want to say. They will talk and make noise and return to where they were before. Let us give them time to talk, and they will return to where they were before. CBC was not unveiled to hate or spite anyone. It was unveiled to help the children of this republic," he insisted.

Uhuru further noted that Magoha's implementation of CBC would prepare students for a radical future.

"It would also prepare Kenyans to face the challenge of this changing world, and we are grateful to him (Magoha) for that. This country has lost a great soldier, a great man, and a sincere individual. He was a loyal man who loved what he truly did. 

"He did not have time to enjoy the office. For him, it was about work," he added.

Uhuru was in attendance alongside former First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta, who was making her first public appearance since the handover to current First Lady, Rachel Ruto. 

He was accompanied by former Cabinet Secretaries Matiang'i (Interior), Ukur Yattani (Treasury), Eugene Wamalwa (Defence), and Joe Mucheru (ICT) as well as former Interior PS Karanja Kibicho. Magoha will be laid to rest on Saturday, February 11, 2023, at his home in Siaya County.