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"id": 1128347,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1128347/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
"speaker": {
"id": 174,
"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
"slug": "amos-kimunya"
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"content": "We know governments are now supporting research, especially with lots of grants and agencies. The United States of America (USA) has the National Science Foundation (NSF). The USA has research and development tax credits that are very common there. Besides the monetary support, governments are also keen on establishing government oriented research and innovation centres that complement research emanating from universities. We cannot effectively recover from the effects of COVID-19 without research and innovation, and doing things in a slightly better way than we have done in the past. Hence, giving bodies like KIRDI more authority to define their status in law will incentivise them to get out there and be innovative. We have been in Government for long. Usually, the Government is about asking: “Why do you want to do this?” The example that was being given, if you remember, was by the President of Uganda, His Excellency Yoweri Museveni. He used to give the example of the powers of immigration officers. When you appear at the airport and you give them your passport, the first thing they ask you is: “Why do you want to come to our country?” You have chosen to be a tourist. Instead of telling you: “Welcome to our country and bring more”, they ask why you want to come in. It is almost like an interrogation. That is a culture that was inbuilt into the Civil Service. So, even when some of these institutes want to go out of their way and become innovative, the hurdles they face in justifying everything they want to do are like this. Innovation is not about waiting. I can give you the example of when Safaricom invented M-Pesa. After doing a lot of work in 2006, they went to the regulator then, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). The CBK was like: “What is all this you are bringing? This will bring money laundering. Why are you competing with the banks? Why are you competing with the bureaus?” Safaricom came to me in December 2006, very frustrated and said: “Here we are. We have an innovative product but every question we are being asked is a hurdle being placed on us not to move forward.” I listened to them and said: “Let us give these guys a chance”. I asked what the risks were. There are the usual people who look for all manner of excuses to ensure that you are not allowed to move forward. I asked the CBK then to give me some reasons, in two days, as to why we should not license these guys or allow them to continue. They said: “We do not have a regulatory law.” I asked: “When are you going to have the law?” They said: “We need to do benchmarking.” “Where are you going to do benchmarking on a new product that has never been invented before?” So, it is the kind of thing that happened but, eventually, I said: “Let us try with this one. If it works, fine. If it does not work, they will risk.” The rest, as they say, is history. Between December 2006 and 17th March 2007, we were able to launch M-Pesa, an innovation that has won recognition across the entire world. KIRDI is now in that kind of situation where whenever they come up with something, they have to go through the Ministry for verification and validation of everything they do. They do not have the requisite independence to get through most of their innovations. It is not because the Ministry is stifling them, but that is the nature of bureaucracy. People housed in the Sixth Floor would write a letter to the people housed on the Fifth Floor of the same building, and the letter might even have to go through the post office. I remember when I was the Minister for Lands, the Commissioner of Lands and the Director of Survey were housed one floor apart at Ardhi House, but the communication from the Commissioner of Lands to the Director of Survey was through the General Post Office (GPO). So, a letter would move from Ardhi House’s Third Floor to the GPO. It would then come to the Registry and taken to Fourth Floor instead of people just communicating directly. That is bureaucracy. That is how it works. It stifles innovation. It stifles the kind of innovativeness we need. Hence, it is important that we look at ways of breaking those The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}