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{
    "id": 1089368,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1089368/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 268,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 124,
        "legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
        "slug": "samson-ongeri"
    },
    "content": "We did not have any intellectual property Bill or Act of Parliament in force. Therefore, that forced us to fast-track the Intellectual Property law which came into being as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Again, we were victims of the very high cost of the Anti-Retroviral (ARV) drugs that had the intellectual property rights. Therefore, Kenyans were unable to access those drugs. They were totally prohibitive and we could not get them. Those who were manufacturing the ARVs claimed that unless they patent the drugs over a period of 15 to 20 years, it was difficult to produce the generic drugs as were necessary for use in this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, this country lost tremendously in terms of human labour cost until such a time we had to go through a window of the Chapter Six of the element of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), that gave us an opportunity to access the generic drugs by declaring HIV/AIDS a pandemic or emergency. It took the whole Parliament to Mombasa and we had to do so. Madam Temporary Speaker, what does this idea of a start-up Bill entail for me? First of all, we have very young minds and they are the majority in this country. Second, we have invested heavily in our educational instruments in schools. This is both in terms of human capital and provision of infrastructure in our institutions, including modern level technology like the use of computers, tablets and other elements. For our young minds, we have introduced to them very innovative thinking. Therefore, they start thinking much earlier than most of us had the opportunity to do so during our early schooling. Therefore, we have a very fertile ground. One such element is access to technology. We already have the infrastructure in terms of our schools and everything we have. We also have the infrastructure in our nascent industries and in our universities and colleges. That is why we started the middle level colleges. You remember there were these science and technology colleges that we started during that time. I enjoy this subject because as the chairperson of the University of Nairobi Council between 1992 to 1997, we had to tell universities that they could not continue to depend on parent Ministries for the capitation of the educational system at the university level. Therefore, they must think beyond the normal capitation that they were getting from the Ministry of Education. If you remember, that is when the University of Nairobi started the irrigation scheme in Makueni County and other places. With Kabete Campus, they were able to produce more than Kshs500 million to sustain the university and it became self-sufficient. It was my idea at that time that universities should be the biggest incubation centres for our industries to take off and technology advancement. When I had the opportunity to promote the jua kali enterprises, I noted they were very innovative, but the technology was crude. There was need to scale it up and refine it so that they make goods that are sellable in the market. If you remember again between the 1992 to 1997 period, this country was going through a crisis and the Bretton Woods Institutions had withdrawn support. We were in a very bad state. Our jua kali sector provided up to 40 per cent of employment in this country and we were able to sustain the labour employment situation."
}