MINING SECTOR IS AN IMPORTANT GAME-CHANGER FOR KENYA'S ECONOMY

Kenya like most developing countries is struggling with a high population growth and a low increase in economic growth rate largely supported by the agricultural sector. With a moderately developed industrial sector, benefits accruing from agriculture are sub-optimal given the weak value chain and export of mainly unprocessed raw farm produce therefore denying the country the much required foreign exchange.

New discoveries in the mining sector in the country are therefore good news that should be celebrated by all. The discovery of significant deposits of oil in Turkana County and the huge deposits of niobium in Southern Eastern Kenya are a strong pointer that Kenya could be holding huge deposits of other minerals that have not been discovered and exploited and which could tremendously change the economy of our country. Other minerals found in the country beside oil and niobium include the significant quantities of soda ash (Trona) around Lake Magadi, Fluorspar at Kimwarer in Kerio Valley, Titanium in Kwale, Malindi and Lamu, gold deposits in Kakamega, Vihiga, Migori, Transmara, Bondo, Siaya, Pokot and Turkana,   Coal  in Mwingi and Mutitu, Iron ore in parts of Taita, Meru, Kitui, Kilifi and Samia, Manganese ore in Ganze and Mrima Hill  in  Coastal region, Diatomite  at Kariandusi near Gilgil, Vermiculite on Kinyiki Hill, Gypsum in El Wak,  Garissa, Tana River, Kajiado and Turkana, natural carbon dioxide at Kereita in Kiambu and a variety of gemstones in Taita, Kwale, Kitui, Mwingi, Kajiado, Isiolo, Pokot and  Turkana and natural gas deposits in Lamu. All these are valuable resources that the National and County governments need to harness for the benefit of the people of this country. Available data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2011, the mining industry contributed an estimated Kenya shillings 7.246 billion to the economy.

Despite such as handsome income from the sector, amounting to approximately 0.7% of the GDP, the truth is that the socio-economic potential of Kenya’s minerals deposits is not yet fully evaluated. The sector is also predisposed to unscrupulous dealers who exploit the resources without paying relevant government royalties nor using sustainable environmental mining practices. Taking the niobium deposits as an example, the deposits found in the country are considered the fourth largest in the world with Brazil holing the world 97% of the mineral. If fully exploited, this mineral which has many uses in the automobile industry, the petro-chemical sector, heavy engineering, power plants, aircraft engines, particle accelerators and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI machines)  has potential to earn the country over 280 million dollars in revenue.

Already, the horizon is bright, His Excellency the President established the Ministry of Mining to guide this important sector in realizing its potential for national socio-economic development. As the new Ministry set out to work, the first task should be to take stock and inventory of each and every single mineral that exists in this country and in determining how best they could be exploited for the benefit of the people of our country. With the new Geology, Mineral and Mining Act 2012 enacted last year, the nation must prioritize its mining agenda and seek ways of how best to take advantage of the vast mineral resources available in the country. The Act establishes the Kenya Geology, Mineral and Mining Authority (GMMA) as an agency to supervise and coordinate the geology, mineral and mining activities in the country. The authority as principal instrument for geology, mineral and mining issues in the country must move with speed to develop and implement all the required policies required for the growth of this sector. Among other issues, this authority should establish and review in consultation with stakeholders, policies and laws on mining and minerals and ensure that mining takes into consideration the local communities interests, best practices in environmental conservation and equitable profits and royalties sharing mechanisms between the locals, counties and National Government. Already the Act pegs sharing mining royalties as 10% to host communities, 15% to county governments and 75% to National Government.

The Government however must build the required frameworks that may be a hindrance to robust development of the sector. Key areas that warrant urgent attention include; development of specialized trained manpower for the sector, development of roads and rail network for ease of transport of raw minerals from the mining sites to processing industries and to the ports for export, establishment of value chain addition to ensure value addition of minerals and developing effective polices and tax regimes that encourage local and foreign investment in the sector. For example, the human resource capacity within the country is limited with the few Kenyan experts in mining trained outside the country. This has led to importation of skills and labor force and to some extent exploitation of the locals doing business within the sector. There is need for the GMMA to work closely with the education sector especially at middle level colleges and University to develop curriculum that will ensure the sector has a critical mass of skilled manpower. Our polytechnics and Universities must capture this opportunity and develop training programs at both technologists and graduate level if the sector has to make its contribution to national development.

In conclusion, the issues of environmental management and social responsibility are critical for the mining sector and have to be given serious attention. Those who are entrusted with the management of these resources must ensure that they are accountable and transparent for the resources to benefit the locals, counties and the central Government. Kenya’s mining potential is huge and we need to lay the right policy and infrastructural frameworks for its full exploitation. The time is now.

CREATE A MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Science, technology and innovation (ST&I) are important drivers for socio-economic development. The level and quality of research undertaken by any country depends to a large extent on which government policies underpin effective development of robust research and innovation systems in those countries. It has been shown that countries that have substantially invested in their ST&I sectors enjoy returns from such investments that are many times higher than the direct investment made into the sector. This is because of the cross cutting nature of ST&I that creates spins off and which positively impact other sectors of the economy.

How then can Kenya harness its ST&I potential to leapfrog into the middle class economy? I want to propose for the establishment of a Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). The accenting to the Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) Bill 2012 by the Hon. President ushers in a new dawn for ST&I sector in the country and the proposed allocation of 2% GDP to ST&I presents new avenues for advancement of ST&I in the country. This will basically reorganize Kenya’s ST&I system that functioned in fragmented dockets by offering frameworks for clear centralized coordination and effective funding of ST&I activities in the country. In the past when Kenya has had such ministry lumped together with other ministries, Science and technology has always remained an appendage if not a department within the ministries with very little attention given to matters of Science and technology.

Most rapidly developing economies such as the BRICS, (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have substantially leveraged their economic development using ST&I with a lot of success. These countries have established a Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation to drive their national development programs on research and innovation. According to the global competitiveness report (2012/13), these countries proportional share of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is huge when compared to Kenya. For instance, China claims 14.32% of the global GDP with a GDP investment on ST&I of 1.6% compared to Kenya’s 0.09% and a GDP investment to ST&I of 0.4%. Equally, other Russia, Brazil and India with global percentage GDPs of 3.02, 2.91 and 5.65 have had impressive investments in ST&I which have significantly contributed their overall development pacing them at the frontline of advanced and emerging technologies in biotechnology, nanotechnology, space science and nuclear science. Kenya cannot afford to remain in its present state but have to take cue from the BRICS and move forward by setting pace for other players in the East African region and other countries in the continent.

The Ministry of Science and Technology am proposing should be able to among other things coordinate and promote matters of science and technology through development of efficient systems for acquisition, use, transfer and management of ST&I and a framework for institutional re-engineering if Kenya has to sustainably and effectively use ST&I to achieve Vision 2030 targets. The Ministry will provide a strong enabling environment to key sectors of the economy such as agriculture, health, education, transport and communication to grow the country's economy besides attracting foreign investment for national socio-economic growth. With the recently discovered deposits of oil, coal, and other minerals in the country and taking into consideration the high potential for green energy such as wind and solar energy and in the long term nuclear power, we only need strong programs and coordination to tap into such resources. This can be offered by a substantive Ministry of Science and Technology.

Once created MOST will be the coordinating institution of all other stakeholders in the sector including National Commission for Science and Technology (NACSTI), National Research Foundation and Kenya National Innovation Agency. This will ensure that there is greater harmony in ST&I policy prioritization, coupled with a coherent implementation of identified priority ST&I programme and projects by disengaging policy issues with implementation. NACSTI will be instrumental in bringing ST&I stakeholders under one umbrella body for effective coordination & implementation of ST&I Policy activities and expanding ST&I activities to the county levels in line with both the national development agenda and the New Constitution that will help tap into the resources available in those areas for the locals and the whole country benefits. In this way, the country will be able to effectively exploit and generate new knowledge for transformative socio-economic impact through programs that will ensure that Kenya develops a skilled human population, dynamic information and communication infrastructure and an effective innovation system. Development of these critical components requires strategic policy planning and implementation, substantial national budgets with clear milestones that can only be coordinated from a substantive Ministry and not a department.

Already, Kenya has taken off very well in the ICT sector with products such as MPESA and the Konza Technology City, the proposed standard gauge railway, and the LAPPSET project to mention but a few, to transforming Kenya into a modern, globally competitive middle income economy move towards knowledge based economy ST&I must be given priority.

WITH CLEAR POLICIES, KENYA MINING SECTOR IS AN IMPORTANT GAME-CHANGER FOR KENYA’S ECONOMY

Kenya like most developing countries is struggling with a high population growth and a low increase in economic growth rate precariously supported by the agricultural sector. With a moderately developed industrial sector, benefits accruing from agriculture are sub-optimal given the weak value chain and export of mainly unprocessed raw farm produce therefore denying the country the much required foreign exchange.

New discoveries in the mining sector in the country are therefore good news that should be celebrated by all. The discovery of significant deposits of oil in Turkana County and the huge deposits of niobium in Southern Eastern Kenya are a strong pointer that Kenya could be holding huge deposits of other minerals that have not been discovered and exploited and which could tremendously change the economy of our country. Other minerals found in the country beside oil and niobium include the following; significant quantities are soda ash (Trona) around Lake Magadi, Fluorspar at Kimwarer in Kerio Valley, Titanium in Kwale, Malindi and Lamu, Gold deposits in Kakamega, Vihiga, Migori, Transmara, Bondo, Siaya, Pokot and Turkana,   Coal  in Mwingi and Mutitu, Iron ore in parts of Taita, Meru, Kitui, Kilifi and Samia, Manganese ore in Ganze and Mrima Hill  in  Coastal region, Diatomite  at Kariandusi near Gilgil, Vermiculite on Kinyiki Hill, Gypsum in El Wak,  Garissa, Tana River, Kajiado and Turkana, natural carbon dioxide at Kereita in Kiambu and a variety of gemstones in Taita, Kwale, Kitui, Mwingi, Kajiado, Isiolo, Pokot and  Turkana and natural gas deposits in Lamu. All these are valuable resources that the central and county governments need to harness for the benefit of the people of this country. Available data show that in 2011, the mining industry contributed an estimated Kenya shillings 7.246 billion to the economy.

Despite such as handsome income from the sector, amounting to only 1% of the GDP,  the truth is that the socio-economic potential of Kenya’s minerals deposits is not yet fully evaluated predisposing the sector to unscrupulous dealers who exploit the resources without paying relevant government royalties nor using best sustainable environmental mining practices. Taking the niobium deposits as an example, the deposits found in the country are considered the fourth largest in the world with Brazil holing the world 97% of the mineral. If fully exploited, this mineral which has many uses in the automobile industry, the petro-chemical sector, heavy engineering, power plants, aircraft engines, particle accelerators and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI machines)  has potential to earn the country over 280 million dollars in revenue.

Already, we are happy that in his own wisdom, His Excellency the President saw it wise to establish the Ministry of Mining to guide this important sector in realizing its potential for national socio-economic development. As the new Ministry set out to work, I would suggest that the first task should be taking stock and inventorying each and every single mineral that exists in this country and in determining how best they could be exploited for the benefit of the people of our country. With the new Geology, Mineral and Mining Act 2012 enacted last year, the nation must prioritize its mining agenda and seek ways of how best to take advantage of the vast mineral resources available in the country. The Act establishes the Kenya Geology, Mineral and Mining Authority (GMMA) as an agency to supervise and coordinate the geology, mineral and mining activities in the country. The authority as principal instrument for geology, mineral and mining issues in the country must move with speed to develop and implement all the required policies required for the growth of this sector. Among the other issues, this authority should take stock and inventory all geology and mineral resources in the country, establish and review in consultation with stakeholders policies and laws on mining and minerals, advice cabinet secretary on negotiation of mineral agreements  even if it means revoking those  which may not  have been done properly and to ensure that mining take into consideration the local communities interests, best practices in environmental conservation and equitable profits and royalties sharing mechanisms between the locals, counties and central governments. These are all clearly set out in the act and simply needs following. Already the Act pegs sharing mining royalties as 10% to host communities, 15% to county governments and 75% to central government. It is only prudent that such resources be used well and where possible ploughed back to build a stronger mining sector especially in areas that may still be weak at both county and national governments levels.

The Government however must seek to build the required frameworks that may be a hindrance to robust development of the sector. Key areas that warrant urgent attention include; development of specialized trained manpower for the sector, development of roads and rail network for ease of transport of mined mineral from the mining suites to processing industries and to the ports for export, establishment of value chain addition to ensure that the mineral are not exported as raw materials to be processed outside the country and developing effective polices and tax regimes that encourage local and foreign investment in the sector. For example, the human resource capacity within the country is scantly with the few Kenyan experts in mining trained outside the country. This has exposed the sector to importing trained labor force and to some extent exploitation of the locals doing business within the sector. There is need for the GMMA therefore to work closely with the education sector especially at middle level and university colleges to develop curriculum that will ensure the sector has a critical mass of skilled manpower. Geology and mining depend a lot on engineering expertise; chemical/petroleum engineers, civil/structural engineers, electrical engineers, electronics and instruments engineers, environmental engineers, metallurgy engineers geological/mining engineers, geoscientist, but also requires a strong training in health and safety, community relations officer, legal officer, and survey besides the normal management skills. Our polytechnic and universities must capture this opportunity and develop training programs that will help train our sons and daughters at both technologists and graduates level if the sector has to make its contribution to national development.

In conclusion, the issues of environmental managements and social responsibility are critical for the mining sectors and have to be given serious attention. Those who are entrusted with the management of these resources must also ensure that they are accountable and transparent to ensure that the resources benefit the locals, counties and the central government. At all times, the negotiations and agreements with exploration companies must listen to the interest of the local communities and county governments for equitable resource and royalties to avoid strife between locals, governments and investors once mining activities start. Kenya’s mining potential is huge and we need to lay the right policy and infrastructural frameworks for its full exploitation. The time is now.

TECHNOLOGY IN ELECTIONS

This last week, Kenyans went to the ballot to elect a new batch of political leaders that will charge with the responsibility of moving this country forward in the next 5 years. For the first time under the new constitutional dispensation, the country elected country governors and senators besides the members of parliament that they have been used to electing in the last 10 elections since independence. First and foremost, Kenyans must be applauded for coming out in very large numbers to express their constitutional rights through their vote and for enduring long queues waiting patiently for the final results of the election. It goes without saying that the Independent electoral and boundaries commission did all that they could within the constraint of time and resources to organize and execute a free and fair election for our country. It is however important to note that the challenges experienced in the use of ICT technology to identify registered voters during voting and to electronically transmit elections to the national tallying centre based at Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi even though created national anxiety should not be taken to mean that such technologies cannot be successfully deployed in our country.

Following the bungled 2007 general election where it became very difficult to establish a clear winner in those elections, it has been clearly apparent that Kenyans need more transparent mechanisms of ensuring a free, fair and credible election. Indeed, among the recommendations made by the Kriegler Commission was that Kenyan needed to turn a clean page on the way it manages and conduct its elections. The starting point was to disband the old elections commission and establish the independent elections and boundaries commission. What followed was new voter registration drive using more efficient technological tools based on ICT technology that would minimize challenges of election rigging occasioned by double registrations and voting, manipulation of voter registers and vote stuffing occasioned by long delay in transmissions of results. 

Towards this end the IEBC undertook to replace manual voter registration with electronic biometric voter registration (BVR) in which key personal security features such as fingerprints and facial image were captured in the voter register and used for identifying the voter during the election allowing election officials to verify the authenticity of the voter using their fingerprints and to track all the operator activities thereby curb fraudulent activities during voting. It must be noted that it is the efficiency of theses kits that enabled IEBC to register over 14 million voters within a very short period of time. 

Even though the  deployment of the electronic voter identification kit in the 33000 polling stations in the country on 4^th March 2013 did not meet the expectation of all Kenyan based on the very higher failure rates, this should not from the basis of castigating the use of technology in running election processes. Effective utilization of any technology depends on various internal and external factors and which must put into consideration for optimal results. Some of the critical factors include the magnitude of national ICT coverage, adequate training of users, adaptability of the technology to local condition, general public perception, and the robustness of the technology to deliver the desired output. Taken against these factors, it must be remembered that IEBC ordered the kits late and therefore did not have time to adequately test the versatility of the kits to the Kenyan system. Due to the same time constrain, the  training of the election clerks on the use of these kits and technicalities involved was also not enough to allow all involved to trouble shoot and develop clear procedures and back-up systems in cases of unforeseen challenges like occurred during the election day. 

Experiences from other countries that have tried to use these kits in Africa such as Ghana, Nigeria and the DRC have also shown that without adequate logistical and technical planning, electronic voting are bound to disappoint. On the other hand, electronic transmission of results as envisaged by the IEBC can work be improved with the involvement of all ICT stakeholders but must ensure that all security issues aspects of such data are taken care of. Kenya has a wide coverage of mobile and internet telephony network supported by an efficient bundle width that should not present any challenge to its use it transmitting election results. In a s much as most internet users have not complained of security issues, building such a sensitive platform must take care of groups which for one reason or the other would want to hack into such systems and interfere with the validity of transmitted data. 

EFFECTIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT REQUIRE GOOD PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE

Kenya will be celebrating 50 years of Independence this year. It is therefore a critical time to evaluate the performance of key sectors within the country with a view of re strategizing in areas where the performance has not been impressive.

As a developing country, we are still struggling with socio-economic challenges of high level poverty, disease, rapid unsustainable population growth, inadequate social amenities and high rate of unemployment especially among our youthful population. Despite the outlined challenges, the Government has from time to time come up with policies to address some of these issues albeit with little impact in some sectors.

It is already known that solutions to some of the problems our country is facing lies with effective adoption of research based interventions through an effective research and development system. Experience from countries such as South Korea and Malaysia who were at par with Kenya at independence but who are many miles ahead of us show that well-structured forward looking science and technology policies could be the panacea. Many of these countries under studied ST&I policies and practices and adapted those they regarded as suitable to their situations. In many countries that have successfully leveraged their economies by using ST&I, their starting point was a re evaluation of their education systems with regard to the teaching and learning of Mathematics and Science in lower and secondary school education. In my opinion, I want to suggest that we may have to seriously ask whether with our low performance in mathematics and science we are going to effectively deliver the Vision 2030.

In my view, our education system must address the luster attention given to Mathematics and Science especially at primary and secondary school education levels. The notion that mathematics and science belong to the ‘tough’ and are restricted to ‘special students and teachers’ need dismantling. Such a mindset though rampant have given a majority of students at basic education level reasons to avoid taking these subjects therefore weakening the national science and technology foundation. It is not strange to find students with very impressive scores in social subjects having very demeaning grades in mathematics, biological and physical sciences which impact negatively in their career choices at technical and university training.

Indeed the Government recognizes that Science, technology and Innovation is a critical driver of the Vision 2030 based on its cross-cutting role across key sectors of the economy. Such a recognition require policy backing that with enhance promotion of mathematics and science in lower and tertiary education sectors that will create the required momentum from below to the higher cadres of learning. It has been shown that rapidly developing countries commonly known as the Asian tigers whose economic growth have been driven by effective use scientific technology and working innovation systems have some of the highest student mathematic scores. These countries managed to attain and sustain their development by adopting programs that encourage teaching and learning of mathematics and science in primary and secondary schools. In addition to that program, they had came u with reward initiatives that provided incentives food performance for mathematics and science teachers and scholarships or bursaries to students in those subjects. My appeal is that our education system adopt some of these program to promote mathematics and science education in the country. 

Currently the Annual Kenya Secondary Schools Science Congress Competition offers a platform for promoting Science in secondary schools. This event allows students to think and innovatively apply science principles in solving everyday life challenges. This is not only laudable and a program that should be nurtured and supported by all but should be expanded to encompass both primary and university students. From my experience with the Secondary School Science Congress, the supported provide to them is not only inadequate but the coordination provides a challenges to the organizers given the many activities that teachers are involved during the school term. I would propose that if possible, the activity should be domiciled within the National Commission for Science and Technology for more effective coordination. More of such contests should also be encouraged among schools within and outside counties. Above all, the national government should develop programs that will build teachers capacities in handling the subjects to increase performance in students. Already organizations such as Centre for Mathematics Science and Technology in East Africa (CEMASTEA), the National In-service Education and Training (INSET) Centre for strengthening of mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) in Kenya are trying to promote Mathematics and Science teaching and learning within the country and in the regions. More teachers should be supported to benefit from such programs.

Overall, strong Mathematics and Science background will lead to many benefits among which will include; demystifying science especially among the general population, directing young mind to take up careers in critical mathematics and science-related areas such as engineering, medicine, ICT, environment and climate change, nanotechnology, nuclear physics and biotechnology among others.  Those with graduate degrees can then proceed to postgraduate training and become scientists and researchers thereby improving the country’s inadequate quality human research capacity required for effective Research and Development.

As shown by most developed countries, effective innovation systems driven by a robust R&D sector depend on a population that have a strong background in mathematics and sciences. We are already importing engineers to fix our infrastructure and exploit our natural resources, are short of adequate doctors and are running late on cutting edge technologies such as nanotechnologies and biotechnology important that hold answers to some of our problems. If Kenya is to catch up with the rest of the rapidly developing world, we have to rethink our education system especially in the critical area of improving our performance in mathematics and Science starting at the lower level far back to the kindergarten. We are already late, so let get moving.

NEW UNIVERSITIES NEEDS TO BE MORE FOCUSED

One of the greatest legacies the Government of President Kibaki will leave behind is the development and opening up the education sector. Immediately after taking over the reins of power, the President declared gave all Kenyan children free primary education. This led to not only massive increase in children enrollments in primary schools and a subsequently high transition rates to high school, middle level and university education but also placed a huge burden to the few public universities in terms of admission. Of course, Kenya became one of the few countries in the world that provided universal free basic education to all its children of school going age. 

The challenges of low numbers of secondary schools required from those coming from primary school was subsequently addressed through government program such as Constituency development fund and government stimulus programs that build more secondary schools. The government further provided school fees subsidies and bursaries to poor students who could not pay full for their education in secondary. To ensure that the full cycle of education is complete, the parliament recently enacted two crucial laws, the TIVET Act 2013 and the Universities Act 2012. These laws are to ensure that all qualified Kenyans access quality tertiary and university education respectively besides addressing challenges in middle level colleges such as inadequate technical training institutions in most regions of the country, lack of trained instructors, ill -equipped workshops and training tools and poor remuneration and incentives for staff. On its part, the university Act 2012 is poised to significantly reform access, quality and management of university education in the country.

By enacting the University Act 2012, the President by a stroke of a pen increased the number of public universities from 7 to 17. This Act will ensure that most students qualifying from our secondary schools are not denied university education. In the last one and a half months, the President took it upon himself to award charters elevated 10 public university colleges to full public universities. So far the following 10 are full universities; Dedan Kimathi University of Science and Technology, Chuka University, Technical University of Kenya, Mombasa Technical University, Pwani University, Kisii, University, Eldoret University, Maasai Mara University, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology and Laikipia University. It is matter of time before the remaining 5 university colleges; Karatina University College, Meru University College of Science and Technology, MultiMedia University College of Kenya, Kabianga University College and South eastern University College also transition into full universities.   Through the Act, the universities will have the power to expand their training infrastructure to address the glaring challenges within the sector.

Among the many challenges that the new public universities need to urgently address is quality human capacity development at the postgraduate level. In as much as Kenya aspires to be a middle income, knowledge-based economy in the next 17 years, the country is deficient in highly trained manpower with Masters and PhD degrees necessary to drive significant socio-economic development in many sectors. The situation is even worse within the Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) sectors highly depended on research findings to develop innovative solutions to local Kenyan problems and research-based policies. Taking into consideration the 3 key mandates of universities; teaching, research and community service, the new public universities must develop unique but effective strategies in as far as meeting their mandates are concerned. Such strategies must include improvement in pedagogy, ring fencing best students through scholarship offers, use of ICT in education and research, creating technological and technology transfer systems through centers of excellence in research led by chairs and fostering of university-government –industry linkages. Above all our universities must strive to be entrepreneurial universities through globally competitive academic programs bench marked with reknown universities of the world. In this way, the Diaspora will find room to make a contribution into our educational system. Towards this end, the new university must scope the university education landscape, determine labor market demands and identity their niches within the training sector. University courses must however resonate with the local, the county, country and regional needs. For example, universities with the Nyanza and western region need to create a niche in courses in fresh water resource utilization and conservation, infectious disease research, tourism, and agriculture. In this way, universities in each region will develop competencies useful for exploiting resources within those regions even as they become centers of excellence in certain disciplines in way minimizing duplication of training at the expense of developing crucial skills in other deficient areas. The universities will also need to engage in serious collaborative Research and Development (R&D) if they have to bench mark with highly rated universities of the world which are the cradle of innovations, Nobel prizes and patents. University budgets for research must be increased to allow for more active engagement and quality mentorship if many young Kenyans have go for research careers.

More important, the new public universities have a great opportunity to do things differently. They must grasp the occasion to think outside the box and avoid having few universities duplicated in others. I would suggest more focus on emerging academic and research disciplines such as nanotechnology, biotechnology in food production and health, value addition in various sectors, mining, oil explorations, space science, nuclear physics and technologies, and climate change with a view of becoming beacons of excellence in these areas. They need to upscale training in specialized key areas such as oncology and engineering which are important for national socio-economic development. Our universities must think globally but act locally. At all times they must ensure that they offer high quality training and research that is relevant and on demand for local, national and regional needs. To the 22 public universities, the ball is in your court, you either score or the public scores against you.

PERSPECTIVES ON THE UNIVERSITY ACT 2012 AND THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION ACT 2012 ON KENYA’S R&D SYSTEM

As the curtains close on the coalition government, one of the greatest achievements of this government is the numbers of bills that went through the 10^th parliament and which breathed life into the new constitution.  Among the last of these catalogue of bills were three critical bills; Technical Vocational Educational Training (TVET) bill 2012, University bill 2012, and the Science, Technology Bill 2012. Enactment of these bills into law will not only ensure that all qualified Kenyans access quality technical and university education and therefore ensure that the country builds a critical mass of skilled human manpower for Research and Development (R&D) and the labor market in general but also go along way into reorganizing the STI sector to make an effective “enabler” of the Vision 2030 targets.

The thrust of the University Act 2012 is to provide an effective regulatory framework for developing university education in Kenya through agencies such as Commission for University Education, the University Funding Board and the Kenya University Admission Board. The Act clearly stipulates the role and functions of these agencies all focused towards improving the quality and access of university education and increasing Kenya’s competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. At the moment, Kenya’s education system seems disorganized with very many deserving students from high school missing on university opportunities due to lack of chances and resources that can support their education in these institutions. For a long time, university admission in our country has been pegged on bed spaces and lecture capacity. Fifty years after independence, Kenya has had only 7 public universities with about 25 constituent university colleges with very little expansion or improvement in their human and infrastructural development to allow for quality education. One of the main causes of this has been universities dependence on the exchequer for funding. Lack of adequate resources to improve programs, build research infrastructure have therefore reduced our intuitions of higher learning into centers of theoretical learning at the expenses of R&D which is one of the major mandates stipulated in the universities Acts.

As a country keen on becoming a knowledge-based middle income economy in the next 17 years, Kenya must walk the road of basic research. It has been shown that there is no better place to do this than the universities. The world over, universities are becoming hubs of innovation and fertile ground where the private sector fish for ideas, test them in the laboratories, develop innovative prototypes which can be picked by venture capitalists for transformation into products, processes and services for wealth creations. Such an arrangement lead to conglomeration of businesses and development of Science parks with high concentration of related expertise with immense contribution to the gross national product. This is the vision Kenyan university systems should have. However, this has not been possible in the past given that our public universities allocation for research have always been negligible and thereby denying Scientists and Professors opportunities to engage in meaningful basic research. Kenya has therefore perpetually relied on externally generated data to develop interventions most of which fail field validation because of the difference in environmental, cultural and societal conditions and mindsets. This scenario has not only denied our university dons and scientists the opportunity to compete and bench mark with the best of the world in their fields in contributing to the growth of new knowledge but also dampened Kenyan innovative minds especially in our youth.

With the enactment of the University Act 2012, the horizon looks promising given that just from the word go, the number of public universities is increasing from 7 to 22 meaning more opportunities to all qualified Kenyans to access university education.  The proposed University Funding Board that the new Act will create has its work cut for itself. The agency will have to burn midnight oil to look for new sources of external funding to ensure that Kenyan public universities do not only boast modernized learning infrastructure but have adequate well skilled human resource capacity with cutting edge teaching and research deliver lessons and conduct ground-breaking research. In this digital age, universities need ot invest in e-resources such as e-library and e-lectures and not relying in outdated reference books and “brown” notes. Such ambitious strategic planning will however need huge investment from the government and the universities themselves if they have to be more competitive. Towards this end, the new STI Act 2012 will provide the necessary policy advice and strive to promote, coordinate and enhance programs that will contribute to improving Kenya’s research and innovation system. The Act 2012 expressly establishes three agencies, the Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation to advice, promote, coordinate and regulate research, the National Research fund to finance research and the Kenya innovation Agency to promote innovations in the country.

Taken together with the recent Cabinet approval of 2% GDP allocation to STI, Kenyan scientist and university dons interested in research will have more resources to make their contribution to national socio-economic development through research. This resources must however be targeted towards developing a critical mass of well trained human resource and conducting research that can impact Wanjiku’s life now and in the long term. If planned and executed well the University Act 2012 and STI Act 2012 will be a sure path to Kenya becoming a prosperous middle income economy with a sustainable annual growth rate of 10% through Science, Technology and Innovation.