Cord leader Raila Odinga has hailed Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i, for bringing reforms in the education sector.

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This is after the CS employed mechanisms to fight examination cheating, in both Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in 2016.

Raila said Kenya opened a new year 2017, happy about changes Matiang'i and the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) initiated, saying they had paid off.

"We open 2017 with excitement brought by the changes at the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) that have paid off. The new team at Knec and the Ministry of Education deserve praise for restoring the credibility of exams. They have given us something to smile about in a year dominated by gloom,'' he said in his new  year message.

Raila noted the success with exams management underscores one important point that, public officers who fail credibility test must be removed from office no matter who benefits from their stay.

"A clean, competent, caring, accountable, inclusive and honest government. That is what Kenyans have missed these past four years. Other than exams management, it is difficult to pinpoint 2016 successes with real impact on Kenyans,'' said Odinga.