Why Uhuru was right to move Amina to Sports ministry

President Uhuru Kenyatta has moved Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed to the Sports docket and replaced her with Kenya National Examinations Council chairman George Magoha. This decision has been welcomed by citizens, who say Prof Magoha is better suited to run the ministry.

When Amina was appointed to take over from Dr Fred Matiang'i last year, many Kenyans were unhappy and wished that he had not been moved. Matiang’i had done a great job in curbing examination irregularities, which had seen cheating students taking the places of their more deserving brighter colleagues in the universities.

Two issues are suspected to have led to Amina's removal. The rolling out and implementation of the National Education Management Information System (Nemis) and how the introduction of the new competency-based curriculum has been managed. Nemis is said to have complicated the transfer of students admitted to Form One in one school, but who wanted to attend a different school.

This affected those students who were admitted to national schools, but their parents could only afford to have them join extra-county or county schools. That is the reason some students have not reported to their various schools to date. During Amina's tenure, there has been great confusion about the migration from the 8-4-4 system to the 2-6-3-3-3 education system.

The programme was expected to have rolled out in January this year but it has since been pushed to 2020. This is because the ministry did not adequately prepare the teachers and pupils as well as the matter of resource constraints. Let us wait and see what changes she will bring to sports