Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has eulogised the late former Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) George Magoha as an industrious leader who was keen to improve the education sector in the country.

In a tweet, Ngunyi said the no-nonsense minister, who died on Tuesday evening, was a “giant with a kind soul”.

Ngunyi revealed that while the country was in a partial lockdown at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, Magoha was busy working to improve the learning environment in Kenyan schools.

During the period, Ngunyi disclosed, the renowned medical professor once arrived at State House with a box full of documents, seeking funds to expand schools.

“I remember George Magoha during COVID at State House. He arrived with a box full of documents. He wanted more funds to expand schools. He was a giant with a kind soul,” Ngunyi wrote.

Magoha was instrumental in the roll-out of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), a new education system introduced in the country to replace the 8-4-4 system.

For the better part of last year, he traversed the country to inspect the construction of Junior Secondary School classes for the pioneer CBC cohort.

He died on Tuesday after suffering a cardiac arrest at home, just days after being appointed Professor of Surgery at Maseno University’s School of Medicine.

Magoha was pronounced dead at the Nairobi Hospital.

“Professor Magoha collapsed at home and was rushed to the Nairobi hospital. Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful,” the hospital said in a statement.

President William Ruto mourned the deceased as a towering giant who stood tall in academia.

“Prof. Magoha is a towering giant of our time, a great man who stood tall in the academy, where he excelled in learning, teaching and research, as well as in administration,” the president said, hailing him for leading a “robust turnaround interventions at the University of Nairobi and the Kenya National Examinations Council.”

“I have been privileged to know and work with the late Professor in many capacities, from the university where I completed my post-graduate studies, to government, where he served with distinction as the chair of KNEC and later as my colleague in Cabinet. We have lost a gifted, unique, distinguished and great servant of Kenya.”

Magoha was appointed to Cabinet in March 2019 following a reshuffle by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.

He exited the Cabinet in October last year following the inauguration of Ruto’s administration and the subsequent appointment of Ezekiel Machogu as the new Education CS.

Prior to his appointment to Uhuru’s Cabinet, Magoha served as chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), a role he assumed in 2016.

He previously served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi from 2005 until 2015.