By Victor Ochieng’
Prof George Magoha, at one time in his life, was member of a band called L’Orchestre Luna Success de la Capital, which later morphed to L’Orchestre Lunna Kidi. It was founded by Ochieng’ Kabbasellah, who was a student at Pumwani High School. Magoha played the bass guitar for a year.
He would later take this hilarious mien to public service as Cabinet Secretary (CS) for education, rarely smiling but full of humour.
Before death plucked him from the garden of life, he had served as Vice Chancellor (VC) of University of Nairobi, chairperson of Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) and Cabinet Secretary (CS) of Education. He also served at the helm of Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board (KMPDB), Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA), and International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA).
An alumni of Starehe Boys Centre and Strathmore College where he did his O and A levels respectively, he joined University of Nairobi for Medicine, but shortly afterwards got scholarship to pursue the same course at the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
In April 1978, he qualified to become a medical doctor without ever having to repeat any exam.
He applied for internship to the Chief Medical Director of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and was posted to the medical wards where he spent three months each in the major clinical specialities of internal medicine, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology. His surgical internship posting was to the urology unit of the department of surgery.
It was during his short stint in the anatomy laboratory at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital that he met Odudu Barbara Essien, who later became his wife.
They tied the knot on May 15, 1982 and went for honeymoon in the Republic of Togo. Their only son Michael Augustus Achianja Magoha, now a neurosurgeon, was born on March 18, 1985 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
Magoha successfully completed his internship in 1979 and applied for registration as a medical practitioner with the Nigeria Medical Council. He thereafter secured recommendation for surgical training at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.
After internship, he started preparing for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) examinations. His first postgraduate training posting was to the Surgical Accident and Emergency Unit of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
In January 1980, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital gave him a study leave to prepare for the FRCS examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in Dublin.
He later returned to Lagos for further training and was posted to the general surgery unit within the Nigeria National Postgraduate Medical College at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
As part of rotation, he served in other surgical specialities such as paediatrics, cardiothoracics, orthopaedics and plastic surgery before proceeding to the University of Ibadan’s Medical School for another exam, which was within the Nigeria National Postgraduate Medical College.
When he passed the exam, he rose to senior resident in surgery, hence was posted to the urology unit at his request.
Magoha returned to Kenya in 1987 to teach at the University of Nairobi. He had published six papers in peer-reviewed journals on the subject of testicular torsion, breast cancer, cancer of the prostate, and C-reactive protein concentration after renal transplantation.
He reported to work on January 6, 1988. His duties included teaching undergraduate medical students, as well as postgraduate students pursuing general surgery and urology.
He opened a part-time surgical and urological consultancy clinic at Hurlingham in Nairobi after obtaining a part-time private practice licence by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB).
In 1996, he became an Associate Professor of Surgery. He qualified for the promotion after supervising eight Master of Surgery students to completion. He had published 23 peer-reviewed scholarly articles in both local and international journals. He had participated and presented papers in many local and international surgical and urological conferences.
In 2000, he became Dean, Faculty of Medicine, unopposed. He was in charge of all academic programmes, to be part of Deans Committee and to sit in the Senate.
He became a full professorship soon after for he had supervised to completion over 22 Master of Medicine Surgery theses, published 32 peer-reviewed publications in local and international scholarly journals, and participated in several academic conferences.
In 2001, he acted as the Principal of the School of Health Sciences. He later became the substantive Principal in the same faculty. His work revolved around the management of three faculties: Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry. He joined the University Management Board (UMB) and started attending meetings convened by the University Council.
In April 2002, Prof George Magoha became the Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) Administration and Finance.
On January 5, 2005, he became the sixth VC of the University of Nairobi where he served for ten years. When he picked the job, he created an efficient team within the management. He focused on teamwork a and decentralized system of management. He signed a performance contract with the University Council involving specific measurable targets.
The most exigent target was to establish the maiden University of Nairobi Corporate Strategic Plan (2005-2010). He brought on board experts in Strategic Planning from the School of Business and the School of Computing and Informatics.
Prof Magoha focused on financial management, human resource management, integrity, performance contracting, ISO certification, student management, time management, public procurement, industrial relations, policy formulation, good corporate governance, team building and bonding.
Therefore, through his managerial genius, the university excelled in teaching, research, scholarship, consultancy, community service, good governance and management. He also implemented the Module II academic programmes that kept the university afloat.
University of Nairobi Towers came up during his tenure. Undoubtedly, it was the most ambitious and expensive project in the university since its provenance in 1970 that cost Ksh2.8 billion.
In 2006, Prof Magoha enrolled for an executive programme at Stanford University to learn new things and share experiences in corporate governance and best management practices.
Subsequently, in 2016, former President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him chairperson of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to later elevate him to CS for Education.
The reviewer is an avid reader, author and public speaker. vochieng.90@gmail.com.
