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{
    "id": 1128398,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1128398/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 665,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Godfrey Osotsi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13172,
        "legal_name": "Godfrey Osotsi",
        "slug": "godfrey-osotsi"
    },
    "content": "As I support the Bill, allow me to point out a few areas of concern in the Bill. Clause 5 provides a list of various areas in which KIRDI will be handling industrial research and development. One of the critical areas that is missing is ICT. They have listed all the other things like civil engineering, electrical engineering, food technology and industrial technology, but ICT is not among the areas that KIRDI is going to look at. This is a big problem because this sector is not managed very well when it comes to research and innovation, yet it is one area Kenya has made a mark globally. The M-PESA is a global innovation that has earned a name for this country. We have had other innovations in the industry which have gone unnoticed and which are not regulated. Young people who come up with these innovations have lost in a big way because multinationals or other individuals end up stealing the innovations from them. I know of cases involving Safaricom where they float a tender on a particular innovation, young people give their propositions, but nothing happens. Before long, you hear they have implemented that technology. I have a company called Transcend Media Group that has even complained about that. It is a criminal issue, but nothing has been done about it. We want a situation where when our young people innovate, they have somewhere they can take their innovations and intellectual property is protected. Unfortunately, they have nowhere to go. I thought KIRDI would provide that opportunity, but ICT is not among the areas that are going to be considered in this Bill. We are very good in policy formulation. We have many nice policies, but they are not well coordinated."
}