Fred Matiang'i took the bull by the horns and won

When Fred Matiang'i was posted to the Education ministry early this year, many Kenyans did not take notice as is the norm with changes in the public sector where political appointees work at the pleasure of the President.

After all, he had been moved from Information and Communications Technology ministry where he had taken the media head on over digital migration and many saw it as President Uhuru Kenyatta's way of getting him out of the way for causing him enough trouble with journalists.

But the sceptics were all wrong. When he moved to Jogoo House and started shaking things up, Kenyans started noticing that he was a man with an extraordinary mental horsepower as things started falling into place. The casualties were those who could not cope and they fell by the wayside, swept away by his drive for results.

Dr Matiang'i crafted and delivered in a purposeful manner ideas that clearly caught the eye of the nation when he started to make impromptu visits to schools where he would rap those found on the wrong side.

He would berate teachers in front of their students and they tutors would be left tongue-tied and sweaty.

Not used to such dressing down, teachers ganged up against the CS accusing him of embarrassing them.

The teachers, through the Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary General Wilson Sossion, in May issued a scathing attack against the minister, accusing him of playing public relations and making fools out of the teachers.

They wanted him to stop the embarrassing visits.

"He should know that we have no sustainable workable supervision framework and instead of him playing the fool out of us, he should know how to do things, open his mind and bring uniform and acceptable standards that guarantee quality and equity in learning institutions," Mr Sossion said on May 26 during the launch of the Annual Learning Assessment Report at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

This unconventional way of doing things earned Matiang'i the moniker Kenya's Magufuli. His zeal and energy was unrivalled and this was evident during the administration of national examinations in November.

The CS had expressed his dismay over the rampant exam cheating while releasing the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education results.

"It is difficult to comprehend how some of the very persons entrusted to shape and mentor the children of this nation are the very ones at the forefront of enabling cheating in examinations. I am therefore directing the Kenya National Examinations Council to hand over all the cases of examination irregularities that involved head teachers and teachers to the Teachers Service Commission to enable the commission take the necessary disciplinary action against them," said the CS.

The tough talking CS followed it up by disbanding Knec and constituting a new one led by former university of Nairobi Vice Chancellor, Prof George Magoha, a no-nonsense administrator whose mandate was to seal all loopholes that enable exam leakage.

And with an array of stringent regulations to close the loopholes that encouraged the leakage of national examinatios and other malpractices, there was restlessness among students that saw a wave of arson attacks in over 100 secondary schools countrywide and property worth millions go up in flames.

Matiang'i remained unbowed, all through insisting that the raging fires would not distract him achieving the goal. He emphasised that no cheating would take place under his watch.

And true to his indefatigable nature, when the examinations started, head teachers would at dawn meet the man, whose former students at the Literature Department at the University of Nairobi say quoted Chinua Achebe's Man of the People like the Bible, at the sites where examination papers were kept.

In his bid to ensure there was no cheating in examinations, he would be in Molo in the morning and Homa Bay in the afternoon inspecting the administeration of the examinations.

A few teachers here and there found themselves in trouble after they were suspected of playing mischief. They found themselves in cuffs and in the dock, facing charges of exam cheating and were swiftly interdicted as Matiang'i focused on delivering on his promise.

And yesterday he received applause from Kenyans when he stood to announce this year's KCPE results that registered no leakage or cancellation of any candidate's results.

The man, who has a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the University of Nairobi, a Master's degree in English from the University of Nairobi, and a Bachelor's degree in Education from Kenyatta University went down history as the one who lived up to his word and delivered fool-proof results.