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{
    "id": 918812,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/918812/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 342,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Farhiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13179,
        "legal_name": "Farhiya Ali Haji",
        "slug": "farhiya-ali-haji"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for allowing me to contribute to this Motion. I thank Sen. Kasanga for bringing the Motion at the right time. We all spoke about how important research is. We are at a level in this country where even when the students have their own initiative and discover something there is nothing to push them forward. Let me give a few examples. There is a reagent used to test the level of insulin for people with diabetes. There is a Kenyan who discovered that in the United States of America (USA). I know this because his wife was my former boss. Today, that drug is patented by a company in the US. A few years ago, we saw a school boy who developed a lighting system that flickers when an elephant or any other wildlife comes near it. In the process, it scares away the wildlife animal. The other day, I saw on television a young man who was a school dropout who was using his mobile phone and solar power to create a system that was able to lock and open doors remotely. There are two school girls in Kilifi County who developed something that when used is able to detect landmines and such. All these people have done all this work without help from the Government. Where is the help from the Government to ensure that there is mass production on what they have done, so that this country develops? Madam Temporary Speaker, in the news today, there was a discovery of HIV/AIDS medicine. One of the developers is a Kenyan, while the others are other nationalities. Another company will patent that and it will be the end of the story. In this country, we have many people with intellectual capacity. Can you imagine coming up with all those without any support and even somebody to take forward the efforts of their invention? They have discovered that the Government is not even producing those things in large scale. Discovery is about unearthing something that is of social deficiency. For example, society needs certain solutions in life. Once somebody discovers how to solve those problems, that is an innovation. When you solve a social problem, the money follows naturally. However, when those social problems are solved by people who are poor and do not have enough capacity to produce, first of all, even our business people are not picking those ideas. They can even pick them, patent them and give some share of royalty to the discovered. However, nothing of that sort happens. For me, besides even setting big amounts of money for research and development, even when those discoveries happen, we need a follow up in terms of financing set aside. I ask Sen. Kasanga to include that as part of the resolutions of the House; for the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}