Kenya: Technology - We're Losers

Nairobi

About two years ago, Kenyans woke up to the "birth" of the country's first test-tube babies. The feat was met with jubilation, and also with calls for the formulation of a regulatory framework to check against possible abuse of this sensitive technology.

Then the Ministry of Health established a task force to undertake the job which it hasn't done. And while the task force has been marking time, test-tube baby technology has recorded momentous developments.

This is not the only area where policy-making bureaucrats are operating behind technological advancement, thus denying the country the benefits. For more than a decade now, bureaucrats and legislators have been working towards a regulatory framework for Genetically Modified Organisms, a task that is yet to be accomplished. Meanwhile GMOs continue entering the country. Indeed, several research institutions, including the public-funded Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, have been spending money and manpower researching on these organisms.

For years, Kari has been researching on genetically modified maize in what is clearly waste of money, knowledge and time because season after season, they have to destroy the crops as they await the enactment of a law showing the way forward. But even more dismaying is that very few research institutions have any policy on intellectual property rights which could protect innovations. Such innovations are now being patented by foreign entities.

It is time the Ministry of Science and Technology moved to right these wrongs that deny Kenya its rightful share of scientific development and wealth.

Source: allafrica.com