CS Magoha Says He Used To Sneak Out Of Starehe Boys To Go Play The Guitar In Clubs

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha has revealed his past passion for music which he says would, often, see him sneak out of school to go play the guitar.

The CS said this passion brought out the hooligan in him during his O-levels at Starehe Boys Centre in Nairobi, as he would sneak into nightclubs to play the bass guitar in the late Luo Benga musician Ochieng Kabaselleh’s band.

“When I saw the Starehe band on television, I liked the bright blue and red colours and decided I wanted to go there because of the band. I used to play the bass guitar before joining Starehe and after I joined the school. I used to play the bass guitar,” Magoha said.

“I had rich classmates who had ‘Komerera bicycles (mountain bikes). Since I was so attracted to the bicycles that are splendid outside glamour I would escape during lectures through the window, borrow the bicycle and go to town.”

The CS was speaking at Pangani Girls High School where he addressed over 2, 000 beneficiaries of the Elimu Scholarships and Equity Group Foundation Wings to Fly.

He responded to a viral caricature published by a local daily where he was depicted playing the guitar in a band while donning the famous Starehe Boys’ uniform outfit of a red shirt and blue shorts.

“That cartoon is true. I grew up in Eastlands as one of the tough young men there…I used to be a deputy commander of a juvenile gang called ‘Sicheki.’ We used to have skirmishes with other groups in Orolo and Makongeni,” he said.

While reiterating the importance of discipline among students, the CS highlighted that the late Starehe founder Geoffrey William Griffin immensely contributed to his turnaround in behaviour owing to the institution’s high standards of strictness.

“…the discipline that was there is the reason why I am who I am today because all the band members including Kabaselleh himself died many years ago,” said Magoha.

“The uniform colours were so bright and our people at Starehe would follow me and pick me back to class. Since I was controlled in school just a bit, I realised that if my self-drive would be directed in the right place, I could be very intelligent.”

In regard to his recent remarks on equality among students following the Form 1 selection exercise, the CS recalled how his success came about after he benefitted from the government’s scholarship program during the late president Jomo Kenyatta’s regime despite deeming himself undeserving due to the then political alignment of his community.

“After two years, I sat for the exam and I got a scholarship from the first president Jomo Kenyatta in 1973, yet our people were not supporting the government at the time,” he said.

“That is what has kept me doing what I am going to do. I treat children equally because I too was given the opportunity. The scholarship I got made me take three of my siblings up to university level.”