The recent cabinet reshuffle and institutional appointments are quite interesting. It is a mixture of proven performance, experience and new blood. Just like in Parliament, women now hold majority seats in the new cabinet. Perhaps the biggest changes that took place were in the Ministry of Education which had been recently hit by a corruption scandal by a State Minister that led to his dismissal. The changes in the ministry are quite significant, not only did it get a new minister but a new docket of ICT and TVET education was added, another indication that skills development and technology are the country’s highest priorities. The new team comes with a lot of promises and maybe the sector could be seeing the beginning of a new era and nothing could be more rewarding than seeing a complete makeover of the education sector. One thing that makes one optimistic is that the country is not just interested in investing in technology, it is the fact that it has infused its system with young blood unlike some septuagenarian-dominated regional countries allergic to change. Young leadership is not intimidated by change or experimenting with new ideas and that is what this country needs, even though sometimes it has to consult its traditional archives to borrow some workable homegrown solutions that have served it well in the past. The government might not have found a working formula for the education sector yet but past experience should by now have given the new caretakers some ideas of how to turn round the situation for the better. All that remains is to wish them better luck than their predecessors.
