After restoring sanity at exam agency, Magoha looks to exit

Education CS Amina Mohamed (second left) flanked by PS Belio Kipsang (left), Knec chairman Prof George Magoha and CEO Mercy Karogo (right) during the release of this year’s KCSE results yesterday. [David Njaaga, Standard]

Prof George Magoha yesterday perhaps presided over the release of his last national examination as Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) chairman.

As his term comes to an end in three months, the no-nonsense surgeon was perhaps already nostalgic of a position that he might vacate after three years of push and pull between his team and examination cartels that had taken over almost all operations at Mitihani House.

His appointment was not entirely out of the blue for someone who had spent years steeped deep in the world of administration in academia as vice chancellor of the University of Nairobi.

Pool of examiners

But in his memoir, George Magoha: Tower of Transformational Leadership, he says his appointment came out of the blue. “Truth be told, it was not a normal appointment,’’ he says in the book.

Prof Magoha recalls at the time he took over, Knec did not have a pool of already set and moderated examinations papers in every examination as is the practice in many other examination agencies.

He says the council had only one examination paper for every subject set yearly and labelled accordingly. This, he believes, set the ground for the examinations to fall into the wrong hands.

Magoha further says the examination was set by only one subject specialist identified solely by Knec and later moderated by other external specialists identified by the same body, a process that was majorly flawed.

This was part of the workload that awaited him, and as he took over the office in March 2016, the magnitude of the task at hand did not escape him. But he was prepared.

“Everything that I touch with these hands is blessed and goes to the end,” he said last year as industry players doubted if he would succeed in his wars against exam cartels that watered the integrity of national examinations. At the time, rumours were rife that some papers had already leaked. “We sat together and agreed that there was going to be a multi-sector approach to the management of examinations. This has been provided. If you are to judge us, judge us with what can be measured.”

The exams re-engineering process has been a long one. Yesterday, he said that although a lot has been achieved over the past three years, there is more that needs to be done.

He said the biggest threat to exam integrity were the parents who endeavour to give their children money to purchase fake examination papers.

But while he blamed parents, he also said that none of the KCSE exam papers leaked, and that “every child got what they deserve” and that parents who will complain about the results do not know their children well.

However, he admitted that there were attempts to steal the tests once they were handed over to examiners.

“We have dealt with the issues at the examination council. What remains is ensuring that the exam is safe from when it leaves the storage containers to the schools.”

But as his term comes to an end, Magoha has remained uncompromising in maintaining the credibility and integrity of examinations.