WE MUST ADDRESS E-WASTE PROBLEM AS A MATTER OF URGENCY

The number of mobile phone users in Kenya rose to 30.5 million by June 2013 according to a Communications Commission of Kenya report. The number of personal computers has equally been on the increase in the recent past. This speaks a lot for a country with a population of about 40 million people. Do we ever stop to ponder on what happens to our old phones, ipads, laptops and tab- lets or do we quickly opt for latest gadgets without giving it a second thought? Well the truth be told, they are most probably at the moment piled up in a land fill somewhere in the country or overseas and causing havoc to the environment in the form of e-waste. This poses great risk to the environment and waste of resource that can be refurbished, re- cycled or extracted and re-used.

E-waste is hazardous to the environment; it contains toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and copper, which could be detrimental to the environment.  UNEP acknowledges that e-waste is one of the fastest growing waste in both developed and developing countries. E-waste produced globally is three times more than all other domestic waste. National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) gives the annual estimates for e-waste from Kenya as 18,000 tonnes; these come from refrigerators, television sets, printers, personal computers and mobile phones. Out of these, only about 605.2 tonnes of e-waste are refurbished or recycled. This might not look like a lot compared with countries like India and China which have up to 500,000 and two million tonnes of domestic e-waste while also dealing with e-waste imports from developing countries.

Yet in light of projects like Laptop project aimed to provide laptops to an estimated 1.3 million pupils in primary schools starting this year, Konza techno city, local manufacture of electronic devices and promotion of use of ICT in all sectors and other economic activities planned to realize Vision 2030, the question we should ask ourselves is how will we manage the e-waste?  I believe that more research to assess the challenges and opportunities provided by e-wastes as well as setting up of e-waste management infrastructure is vital for us at this stage. NEMA has developed e-waste management guidelines which emphasize on reducing, repair, reuse and recycle in order to minimize e- waste, however, we have no national policy to regulate the management of e-waste in the country. East African Compliant Recycling facility is the only plant which handles e-waste recycling in the country. This is, how- ever, carried out in small scale and needs scaling up.

Switzerland has superb track record in e-waste management that we can learn from.  The Swiss law on waste management stresses the polluter pays principle and has encouraged the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste. This places both the physical as well as the financial responsibility of an environmentally sound disposal of end-of-life electronics with the manufacturers and importers of these products. With time, they have realized that the first step in e-waste management takes place when buying new electric or electronic products. Consumers are charged an advance recycling fee when buying any electronic products which caters for all processes required for a safe disposal at the end of its life.  Again they emphasize on manufacture of green electronic and electric equipments.

Turning trash into cash presents an opportunity we can exploit to create jobs, expand our wealth base, and re- cover secondary resources while also protecting our environment all at the same time. This will require us to innovatively look into ways of dealing with e-waste, we need not wait till e-wastes clog our cities causing a sore sight; the time to act is now.

WHY WE NEED TO AUDIT RESEARCH

Research can provide answers to social economic challenges we face if carried out with credibility. 
Researchaudits are important to ascertain that research projects are carried out without any form of misconduct from the beginning to the end of the project life cycle. Research audit  involves 
analysis  of critical issues including what researches are being carried out, how they are carried out and assessment of their benefit to the society.

One of the key issues in any project is how availed resources are being utilized.
Auditing ensures effective management of resources involved in the research undertaking 
including finances. Research money should never be used for personal gain and researchers 
are discouraged against mismanaging research funds and diverting it for unintended motives. 

Integrity in research is a virtue that needs to be upheld among our researchers to avoid situations where funders are in pains explaining how public funds were used.

Any research work must be original and has not been funded before. Research audit enables funders to decipher projects that are plagiarized and work that has been supported 

previously.

As research is carried out to benefit the society, research findings need to be applied for socioeconomic development and so they have to be credible.  An audit at the end of a research project reveals the credit worth of the project and ascertains that the objectives were met.

Research using human or animals as subjects should be done ethically,carried out in ways that do not expose them to any harm as stipulated by guidelines provided by different ethical review committees that govern this type of research undertakings.

For National Commission for Science, Technology and  Innovation (Nacosti) funded projects,  a monitoring  and  evaluation unit  screens through research  projects  reports as well as conductsite visits where they  also sensitize  researchers on monitoring and evaluation in order to 

increase  their  capacity  for selfassessment in order  to curb delays experienced when carrying out their projects.

Midterm and end  term  evaluation findings reveal that most researchers do not submit their 
quarterly reports as required. To date, Nacosti has supported over 1,000 research and 

innovation projects at a cost of Sh1.2 billion. During the 2013/2014 financial year the Institution 
was allocated a budget of Sh401 million to support more research in the country.  

Nacosti advises the strengthening of monitoring and evaluation systems in universities and 
research institutions to make sure that research projects carried out in these institutions 

can impact on lives of ordinary citizen, contribute to economic development in terms of creating employment opportunities and wealth creation towards sustainable development.

Research audit results are key to inform funders on areas where  researchers  need  to 

improve and we urge our researchers to adopt recommendations from  monitoring and 

evaluation exercises to improve the effectiveness of their projects.Research audits should not  only focus on adherence to budget guidelines or progress  timelines but can also  be used to 

identify areas where no or very minimal research  is being  carried  out  while  also  advise on emerging fields and areas which need more research.

Priority funding must be given to research projects aimed at meeting needs of society and 
which offer recommendations on how best we can fast track the achievement of Vision 

2030.  We also need to monitor research projects undertaken lest we carry out research only 
for research sake having not considered how the findings can be utilized for development.
The pledge to allocate of two per cent of her GDP to research and development ranks Kenya among top nations dedicated to research led development. Researchers in the country can maximize on this great opportunity and 
spearhead research projects able to transform our country.

For instance we urgently need to salvage about seven million Kenyans who  face drought and  

starvation each year due to unreliable rainfall and climate  change.  We should ask 

ourselves:  Do we need better seed varieties? or agriculture-smart technologies? I challenge the researchers in this country to unravel this.