A mini ginnery could ensure the future of the cotton industry in Kenya. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, Apr 19 2024 (IPS)

Kirinyaga University may have just breathed new life into Kenya’s ailing cotton industry as varsity dons develop a portable cotton ginnery.

For an industry that has been struggling to survive, this news came as a relief to cotton farmers, whose lives the invention is expected to change, and to a government pushing for job creation and self-reliance through manufacturing. 

The project, funded by the government through the National Research Fund (NRF), is a portable cotton ginning machine aimed at addressing the problems faced by farmers, by providing them with a means to process their cotton directly on their farms and hence determine their own market prices.

The invention is the brainchild of four professors from Kirinyaga University: Dennis Muchangi, Grace Kiiru, David Kabata, and Agnes Mutiso.

The cotton processing industry has been struggling to recover for decades since its collapse in the 1990s, despite Kenya boasting of being a pioneer cotton miller and having the largest cotton gin in East Africa, Kisumu Cotton Mills (KICOMI).

The famous KICOMI, located in Nyanza province, has been a centre of controversy since its sudden shutdown in the 1990s. The mill, started in 1964, provided jobs for thousands of people as it was strategically located in the country’s largest cotton production region (served the western and Nyanza regions).

The result of this closure was a collapse in the country’s largest cotton production region as the farmers eventually opted for other means of survival. Today, the mill remains a shell of its former glory, despite repeated attempts by the government to revive it.

‘’From our research, we found out that the remaining cotton ginneries in the country were struggling to stay open due to the high cost of maintaining the ginneries, and the ones that were in operation were inaccessible by most cotton farmers across the country,’’ said Dennis Muchangi, project team leader.

‘’The closure of ginneries forced the remaining cotton farmers to rely on middlemen to find a market for their products, which meant exploitation and eventual loss of morale in cotton farming for most of them. Currently, they are forced to sell a kilo of grade 2 cotton at Ksh. 26, while grade 1 goes for Ksh. 52,’’ Muchangi told IPS.

Kirinyaga University’s invention has brought hope to cotton farmers, most of whom had ventured into other sources of income.

According to the academics, their invention will help the government boost the textile manufacturing industry while also creating blue-collar jobs such as artisans and mechanics, as the machine is easy to make with locally available material and the designs for its manufacture will be made open to the public.

‘’The portable ginnery is quite a simple machine with designs that are easy to understand for any local mechanic,’’ said Muchangi. This means that they can be built in any location.

The mini ginnery is a far cry from the large industry ginneries, as it is made out of simple scrap metal and other materials that can be found locally and assembled in any work shop.

‘’Another problem we noted among the available ginneries was maintenance delays, which led to a lot of stalling and shut downs. The big ginnery machines are expensive to maintain and too complex for local mechanics, which meant having to wait for months to get expert engineers from Nairobi to come and fix them. This was bad for the farmers and the cotton industry,’’ Muchangi explained.

‘’With our machines, farmers will no longer have to wait for experts and they can instead call any locally available mechanic.’’

Muchangi added that while the government is expecting to spend billions to revamp the stalled ginneries, their miniature machine requires less than Ksh. 100,000 (about USD 724) to build and even less to maintain.

Grace Kiiru, a project member, explained that the machine is also easy to use and, once taught, can be operated by anyone, both men and women. This, she said, will help empower women and the youth.

‘’While the larger ginneries require experts to operate, our machine is quite easy to learn and use and can be operated by anyone once they get the basic knowledge. This means that they can be operated throughout, thus boosting cotton production,’’ Kiiru told IPS.

The ginnery has also been designed to be able to accommodate farmers who live in areas with limited or no access to electricity.

‘’Given that most farmers are found in rural areas, characterized by limited or lack of electricity, we have made our machine in such a way that it can be operated manually or can be fitted with a petrol-powered generator for those who can afford it. We are also working on enabling it to run using solar energy,’’ Kiiru said.

The ginnery is small enough to be transported on a motorbike, making it accessible even in rural areas where motor vehicle transport may be a problem.

According to Kiiru, the machine has the ability to process up to 500 kg of cotton in a single day, which will make it quite profitable to farmers who can sell their products directly to the textile factories.

‘’Our intention is to help farmers determine their own prices by cutting out the middleman. By processing their own cotton, farmers will be able to sell their product for as much as Ksh. 200 (USD 1.51 per kilo up from the Ksh 25 (about USD 0.19) per kilo that they are currently being forced to accept,’’ she explained.

Kenya currently relies on cotton imports to supplement its textile industry, a fact that Saada Mangi laments has made the cost of some fabric high.

‘’Most clothing designers like myself import fabric from India due to the high cost and sometimes lack of material of the same quality locally. We are forced to sell our finished clothes at high prices, meaning we have to target certain clients who can afford them,’’ Mangi said.

‘’It is sad to see people prefer imported clothes and materials because they are more affordable compared to what we make locally. This is part of what kills our culture as a country,’’ Mangi said.

‘’Rivatex Textiles, Kenya’s largest textile factory, has had to rely on cotton imports from countries like Egypt to sustain its demands. Our machines will give farmers in the western and Nyanza regions a reason to resume cotton farming, which means no more importation and hence reduced prices on textile products,’’ Muchangi concluded.

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Stephany Musombi and engineers preparing the banana stems for processing at KIRDI. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, Nov 16 2023 (IPS)

’Going Green’ seems to Dr Jacquline Kisato’s favorite catchphrase as she passionately explains her eco-friendly sanitary towel, a product she expects will help empower women and young girls while also putting money into farmers’ pockets.

Kisato is a lecturer at the Kenyatta University (KU), Fashion Design and Marketing, currently working on a project to develop affordable and eco-friendly sanitary towels while also finding a solution for sustainable packaging materials.

Kisato’s venture started out to help communities get a source of employment through the commercialization of banana stems – products that were considered useless by farmers and would usually be left to rot away on farms.

After the Kenyan government enforced a ban on the use of plastic bags in 2018, there was a need to find immediate alternatives.

Plastic bags were a necessity for grocers and fast-food vendors, an item that made it easy for customers to carry their goods home. Despite their advantage, however, their negative impact on the environment could no longer be overlooked.

‘’I started looking at this project from an entrepreneurship point of view on how I could commercialize banana stem fibers. The government had just banned single-use plastic bags, and market vendors needed alternatives to serve their customers,’’ Kisato told IPS.

‘’Poorly disposed sanitary towels also formed part of the pollution problem since they were composed of plastic,’’ she added.

According to Kisato, however, her need to empower women and young girls through affordable sanitary towels was something that she always had in mind after noticing the struggles that school-going girls went through.

‘’While walking along the hallways one day, a student on campus stopped me and asked if I could help her with a packet of sanitary pads. This incident shocked me as for a long time, I had assumed ‘period poverty’ was only experienced amongst high school children,’’ Kisato said.

Kisato and her research team interviewed 400 high school girls from Gatundi, Kibera, and Kawangware, where they found out that more than 50 percent of the girls in these low-income areas could hardly afford sanitary pads even when at home.

This did not sit well with the don as she felt something needed to be done about it.

It was while researching alternatives to plastic bags that she realized that she could solve two problems at the same time.

Kisato, therefore, applied for the National Research Fund (NRF) in 2018 with the aim of developing eco-friendly plastic bags and sanitary towels. Her wish came through when NRF granted Kenyatta University Ksh.9 million (about US $ 61,623) in 2020, with her taking the lead as the principal investigator in the project.

Her team is made up of scholars from different departments and institutions and also includes Ph.D. and master’s students, with each one of them playing a major role in seeing the project through.

‘’I lead a team of engineers from the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI), whose task is to reverse engineer machines that can extract fiber from banana stems and use them to create eco-friendly packaging and sanitary towels,’’ she explained. “I also have researchers from Moi University whose work was to turn the extracted fiber into soft materials for use.”

Kisato’s aim was to produce quality sanitary towels that could compete with what was already in the market while still being eco-friendly, a fact that led her to seek the expertise of Edwin Madivoli, a chemistry lecturer at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

According to Kisato, the towels on the market have a component in them called hydrogel, which enables them to retain fluids for longer, and were also lined with plastic sheets to prevent any leakage. Our intention is to replicate the same but use bioplastic materials, which can degrade as opposed to the normal plastic that is being used.

From her research, Kisato also discovered that Africans, on average, wore sanitary towels for longer as compared to women and girls from developed countries and were thus at risk of getting bacterial infections. This was due to limited access and affordability in Africa.

‘’The recommended period for one to have on a sanitary pad is about three hours, which means that it should be changed at least three times a day to avoid any risk of infections. This is, however, not the case for many girls in Africa due to poverty,’’ Kisato explained to IPS.

‘’We thought adding anti-microbial properties to our product would therefore make it as good or even better than what was in the market,’’ said Kisato.

The research team also found out that there were a lot of myths surrounding menstrual flow among young girls, a fact that led to a lot of stigmatization, which made it difficult for them to understand how to use sanitary towels properly.

Some of the notable ideas that girls told each other concerning menstrual flow included:

1. It is a curse from God
2. Girls who had periods were considered dirty and impure
3. Their faces would become pale from losing blood

‘’These are beliefs that need to be done away with by encouraging parents and the government to speak about monthly periods with young girls openly,’’ Kisato said.

For the second phase of the project, Madivoli’s chemistry expertise came in handy, and the Research Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) was happy to add an additional Ksh.9 million (about USD 59,000) for Kisato to continue what she had started.

‘’My role is to ensure our sanitary pads are of the same quality as what is in the market while at the same time maintaining an eco-friendly nature, which is the main agenda of this whole project,’’ Madivoli told IPS.

‘’I am tasked with the development of hydrogels, production of bioplastics, and finding a way to incorporate anti-microbial properties into our products to protect the users from possible infections,’’ he said.

JKUAT received funding of Ksh.800,000 (about US $ 5477) from the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KENIA) to further help Madivoli with this research.

“As they are left to dry up on the farms, banana stems are known to produce large amounts of methane, which is a harmful greenhouse gas that contributes to the climate change problems that we are trying to tackle, added Madivoli. ‘”Having an alternative use for the stems therefore limits the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere.’’

Madivoli said that most banana farmers usually do not know what to do with the stems once they have done their harvest, and this project gives them a way to earn some extra income as they expect to buy the stems from them at Ksh.35 per stem.

“This project will not only be environmentally friendly but will also create jobs for the people who go to cut the stems from the farms while also finding use for the biomass that the farmers thought was useless,’’ he concluded.

Once it is up and running, they expect to source banana stems from counties such as Kisii, Muranga, Embu, Meru, and parts of western Kenya.

Stephany Musombi is one of Kisato’s students specializing in textiles whose task in the project is to come up with quality packaging materials.

‘’Apart from the banana fiber, I am also experimenting with other biomass such as pineapple and seaweed,’’ Musombi told IPS. If I can find a way to make this work, the project will open up a market for seaweed and pineapple biomass.

Kisato’s project could not have picked a better time there is an international joint push for green solutions to help mitigate climate change. On September 4, 2023, Kenya also played host to the climate summit that attracted leaders from across Africa.

Kenya’s president, William Ruto, drove himself in a tiny electric car to the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), where he challenged the African leaders and innovators to find sustainable solutions to their daily activities that can help them reduce the carbon print in the continent and globally.

‘’Africa can power all energy needs with renewable resources. The continent has enough potential to be entirely self-sufficient using wind, solar, geothermal, sustainable biomass, and hydropower energy. Africa can be a green industrial hub that helps other regions achieve their net zero strategies by 2050,’’ Ruto said at the summit.

Kisato expects her product to hit the market later this year, where she plans to make it more affordable for all. Her intention is to team up with startups or established companies that deal with toiletries.

‘’The cheapest sanitary packet in the market costs Ksh.140. We expect ours to go as low as Ksh.100, Kisato,’’ concluded.

Kenyatta University’s Vice Chancellor, Paul Wainaina, lauded the project, stating that it will enable the country to meet its industrial needs while conserving the environment.

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Pharmacists, like Christine Atieno​ from Mediway Healthcare and doctors say women and men in Kenya are more open to contraceptive use now. CREDIT: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, Aug 28 2023 (IPS)

According to a family planning brief, more than 370 million women in middle and low-income countries were finally embracing modern contraception to help curb unintended pregnancies.

This statistic suggests that one in every three women from middle and low-income countries use contraceptives today.

Africa, which had the lowest number of family planning users in 2012, had registered a 66 percent increase, from 40 million to 66 million girls and women by 2022. Eastern and Southern Africa recorded the highest increase in family planning users at 70 percent.

Kenya was ranked among the sub-Saharan nations that had effectively managed to tame the population growth rate by educating and empowering women and young girls through family planning initiatives.

According to Kenya’s Ministry of Health, by September last year, at least 54 percent of women in the country had access to contraceptives, and the use of modern methods of family planning had increased from 18 percent in 1989 to 57 percent in 2022. This went a long way in helping it meet its FP2030 commitment plan.

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey last year reported that there was a decrease in the fertility rate in women from 3.9 children per woman in 2014 to 3.4 children per woman in 2022. This decrease resulted in a slowed population growth rate from 3.4 percent in 2014 to 2.2 percent in 2022.

The report stated that amongst married couples, 47 percent of women wanted to have more children, while the case was 57 percent for men. Another 30 percent of women and 37 percent of men wanted to wait a while longer before having children. This showed that more women preferred to wait and decide when and how many children they wanted to have through family planning.

From the report, more women in rural areas were also opting to limit the number of children they were having as opposed to the past, where the decision was not easy for them to make due to factors like lack of education, traditions, and limited access to health facilities.

Among the educated group, 84 percent of married women with primary school education and 94 percent of married women with secondary school education did not want more children. This showed how big a role the level of education played in the use of contraceptives.

A look at the counties showed that urbanised areas, where more people had access to education, had a low fertility rate in comparison to the marginalized counties with limited access to proper education.

For instance, the counties with the lowest fertility rates included Nairobi, Nyamira, Machakos, Kirinyaga, Mombasa and Kiambu, which recorded 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.8, 2.9 and 2.9 children per woman. The opposite was true for the marginalised counties like Mandera, West Pokot, Wajir and Marsabit, which recorded high fertility rates of 7.7, 6.9, 6.8, and 6.3 children per woman.

Some of the common family planning methods being used today include sterilization, condoms use, implants, injectable drugs, and pills. The use of these modern contraceptives, however, varies by region.

Christine Atieno, a pharmacist technician at a local clinic, agrees that there has been a significant rise in the number of contraceptive users amongst married people over the years.

‘’Married women, mostly aged between 25 years and above, form the majority of our patients at Medway Healthcare,’’ Atieno told IPS.

‘’We receive at least five patients, on a daily basis, who come to seek professional assistance on what sort of contraceptives to use. Many of them prefer taking the oral pills, which we restock two to three times a week,’’ she said. We offer all forms of modern family planning services at our facility apart from sterilisation.

Research work published in the National Library of Medicine agrees that community pharmacies and clinics have also played a big role in ensuring the delivery and easy access to family planning services in both rural and urban areas.

According to the findings, the public health system accounts for 60 percent of patients, while the private sector, made up of pharmacies and clinics, takes up 34 percent.

These private facilities have been authorised to conduct family planning services such as providing oral contraceptives, male and female condoms, injectable intramuscular and subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), and emergency contraceptives.

“Being a developing country, Kenya stills lags behind in terms of adequate facilities in its public health system, which makes pharmacies and clinics very important in providing medical assistance, especially to young people between the ages of 10 and 24 years,’’ says Wilson Opudo, a public health specialist.

‘’While it is true that there is an increase in usage of contraceptives amongst women, there is still the matter of teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 18 years who are increasingly becoming sexually active but cannot afford or are unwilling to visit public health facilities for various reasons,’’ Opudo explained to IPS.

According to Opudo, these teenage girls usually avoid going to public health facilities, most of whom will expect them to be accompanied by their parents or guardians because of their young age. Due to this, they prefer community pharmacies and clinics where they can get help on their own.

‘’Being young, these girls are usually embarrassed by their parents finding out that they are sexually active, and most will therefore avoid visiting hospitals,’’ Opudo said. For this reason, it is important to also have professional counsellors in these community clinics and pharmacies.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kenya recorded one of the highest cases of teenage pregnancies, which experts linked to the fact that many children were left unattended at home with little to occupy their free time. Easy access to uncontrolled and uncensored social media has also been a contributing factor to the increased sexual activity among teenagers.

“Teenage girls mostly visit our facility during the weekends, and they usually come looking for emergency contraceptive (plan B) pills, unlike the case for the older married women,’’ said Atieno. ‘’My colleagues and I are also qualified counsellors, and we always insist on offering advice to these teenagers before letting them make any big decisions on their own.’’

The DHS data also showed that, while still low, more men were also taking part in the family planning process as the number of married men getting sterilised had doubled in comparison to the previous years.

Initially, women mostly did family planning, most of whom preferred hiding it from their spouses to avoid conflict or backlash from society, as having many children was considered a blessing in many African households.

Today, however, many men understand the importance of family planning, especially on women’s health and are even accompanying their spouses for the services.

The DHS data indicated an increase in the number of men getting a vasectomy from 248 in 2021 to 557 in 2022.

Dr Alex Owino, Medical Superintendent, Katulani Sub-County Hospital, Kitui, advises that while family planning has become accessible to many, it is also necessary to understand the importance of having a medical specialist to help you decide on the best type of contraceptives.

‘’I have seen cases of women reacting negatively to injections and implants, which makes it necessary for one to be able to know what works for them. Some have complained of side effects such as headaches and uneven menstrual flow, which makes it hard for them to go about their daily business,’’ Owino told IPS.

‘’Pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and those using ARVs, for example, have different needs in terms of the kind of contraceptives that is best for them,’’ he added.

From the data gathered in the FP2030 report, the following were some of the key findings:

1. Injectables were the most favoured method of contraception in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by oral pills and implants, respectively.
2. Pills and male condoms were predominantly used in Europe and Northern America.
3. Female sterilisation and male condoms remain the most used family planning methods worldwide.
4. Most family planning users across the globe also prefer short-term methods as opposed to long-term.

In summary, the increased use of contraceptives had helped avert 141 million unintended pregnancies, 150 000 maternal deaths and 30 million unsafe abortions worldwide.

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Togotia, a forgotten African leafy vegetable, has found its way back into markets as its high nutritional value could help address food security. CREDIT: Egerton University

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, Aug 16 2023 (IPS)

Kenya’s fight for food security may have just gone ‘Old School’ as Egerton University dons win a grant to help bring back a pre-colonial delicacy that was gradually sliding its way off consumers’ plates.

Their project, dubbed ‘Exploring Potential of Togotia (Erucastrum arabicum), a forgotten African leafy vegetable for nutritional security and climate adaptation in Kenya,’ won the grant in October last year in a bid to help farmers and consumers realise the importance of the crop that many, today, term as a weed.

According to the project’s lead researchers, Togotia falls among the forgotten African leafy vegetable (fALVs), which have been ignored in formal research and policy and their nutritional values.

The project focuses on Togotia’s nutritional value and hardy nature compared to other vegetables such as cabbage, kale and spinach that are exotic to Kenya.

It involved the expertise of Prof. G Mendiodo (University of Nottingham), Dr Maud Muchuweti (University of Zimbabwe), Dr Miriam Charimbu (Egerton University) and Dr Charles Kihia (Egerton University).

The grant, worth Ksh 4.9 million (about USD 37 000) was awarded to the institution by the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) UK.

“Togotia and many other traditional vegetables have their roots embedded deep in the pre-colonial era, where they formed a daily delicacy for many. However, the colonial period brought exotic crops that quickly became a favourite for many, majorly due to their high market demands,” Kihia told IPS.

Between 1960 and 1980, these exotic vegetables flooded the local markets, especially in towns, thus relegating Bogota and other traditional vegetables to the rural areas.

And, due to high market demand for the exotic vegetables, farmers in the villages also transitioned to cash crop farming, a move that saw Togotia gradually cast out as a weed.

However, the current global changes in climate conditions have seen many farmers suffer the consequences of unpredictable weather patterns that have seen crops dwindle in the local markets.

Most food crops that serve towns come from rural areas where farmers rely heavily on weather patterns to meet the market demands.

Kenya is currently facing one of the worst drought periods in its history, making food production a burden for the farmers who town dwellers rely on for their needs. Lack of rainfall means low food production, which leads to high food prices in the market.

“The drought has led to a scarcity of many vegetables, such as kale and spinach, which have the highest demand in town. The ones that we are getting right now have tiny leaves, which customers complain about,” said Nancy Mulu, a local grocer in Nairobi.

“We are forced to sell them in small bunches at high prices due to the trouble we go through to get them,” she explained to IPS.

“The only traditional vegetable I sell in my shop are Terere (Amaranthus), Managu (Solanum), Saga (Cleome), and Kunde (Vigna). I have never come across a fellow vendor selling Togotia in town. They are mostly found in the village areas, and even there, many still treat them as weed,” she added.

Despite the rains that recently kicked off, the meteorological department warned farmers that it may not be enough to meet their agricultural demands.

Charimbu told IPS that if embraced, Togotia will be important in helping the country meet both the supply and nutritional demand of the people.

“Emergence and intensification of climate change with associated unreliable rainfall (either too much or too little) limit capacity of local farmers, not only to produce their own food but also surplus for sale, resulting in impoverishment,” she explained.

“The high cost of farm inputs required for the exotic vegetable also makes them an expensive and unsustainable venture during draught seasons such as the one the country is experiencing. Being a hardy crop, Togotia easily has an edge over them.”

“They flourish in marginal soils, require limited agrochemical input, are fast maturing (takes two weeks), widely occurring and are resistant to many local pests, and hence are ideal candidates for sustaining nutritional and household food security even during such draught periods, Charimbu added.

In major crop production towns like Molo and Kuresoi, known for maize, potatoes, carrots, onions, kales, and cabbages, Togotia is usually considered a weed and farmers prefer to get rid of it or feed it to the livestock. Few people in the area consider it a food crop.

From their analysis, the dons found out that apart from being hardy, Togotia was a rich source of vitamin C, iron, zinc, protein and calcium, which are important for the human body.

Kihia believes that the project will not only help to redefine the current understanding of the use and ecology of Togotia but also identify and develop appropriate agronomic cropping protocols suitable for adoption among small-scale farmers in Kenya and elsewhere.

“For a farmer with a healthy crop of maize targeted for sale in the lucrative Nairobi market, it is a weed. But when the same farmer hires a number of locals to do weeding at his farm, they remove the weed and eat it. Similarly, when there is massive crop failure and the maise crops do poorly, this weed becomes an important survival crop for the farmer and the community,” Kihia added.

In counties like Baringo, which falls among the hardest hit by the drought, Togotia is one of the residents’ main vegetables to supplement their needs. If this can be incorporated in other drought-prone areas like Turkana, Marsabit and Samburu, it will go a long way in helping address the recurring food crisis in Kenya.

“Incorporation of Togotia and other fALVs into current land-use will not only increase farms agrobiodiversity and household food diversity but also provide important forage crop for bees and other pollinators that are disappearing from Kenyan landscapes,” he concluded.

The project will involve setting up demonstration farms at the university and sensitising local farmers and communities around on their importance in helping supplement their nutritional needs.

They aim to produce Togotia varieties that are responsive to environmental needs in terms of resistance to pests, diseases, and drought.

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Sudanese refugee James Mathiang (left) with his teammates has had difficulties getting his qualifications recognised even though he was offered a scholarship. Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, Jul 11 2023 (IPS)

East African international students could soon easily study in neighbouring countries after the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) proposed a new qualification framework to mitigate the difficulties faced when seeking education across borders.

IGAD has, over the past year, been conducting a series of seminars and workshops aimed at finding a solution to the problems faced by foreigners and refugees looking to continue with their education and employability in foreign lands.

During the 3^rd IGAD conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, in March last year, it was agreed that its member states needed to develop a harmonised qualification framework that would allow their students to cross borders in search of work and education easily.

The IGAD member states include Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Uganda, South Sudan and Eritrea.

Countries usually have different education systems and standards, making it mandatory for foreigners to prove their qualifications before joining any institution.

Joining a higher education institution in Kenya demands one to have attained certain set standards from high school, which in this case, is to have a mean grade of at least a C+. Therefore, an international student seeking to join the same institution must show that they achieved an academic qualification from their country equivalent to the Kenyan standard.

To do this, they must go through the Kenya National Qualification Authority (KNQA) and have their high school grades converted to verify whether they meet the standards.

However, given the difference in curriculum and education standards for different countries, this is usually a tedious process for many.

Students have complained of waiting for months (or even years, in some cases) before having their qualifications approved to join learning institutions. This has especially been tough on refugees from Somalia and South Sudan, whose education systems are still volatile, making it difficult for them to get quality education in countries of their choice.

South Sudan, for instance, has seen many of its citizens stream into Kenya in search of refuge and a fresh start to life. And due to their height, many Sudanese teenagers are sought after by basketball coaches in colleges and universities who are willing to offer them sport scholarship opportunities.

IPS spoke to James Mathiang during one of his basketball games to understand his transition process as a foreigner trying to further his ambitions.

Mathiang is a refugee from South Sudan who had been offered a sports scholarship by African Nazarene University (ANU) but is yet to join since he has not cleared the qualification process.

“I came to Kenya in 2021 with my family and currently live in one of the estates in Nairobi. Our country is still facing civil unrest, and my parents felt it was wise for us to seek refuge in Kenya, which also meant continuing with our lives in a new country,” Mathiang told IPS.

“I play basketball and have many of my relatives who have been in Kenya for longer, who also play the sport and were able to introduce me to some of the teams they play in.”

It was not long before one of the basketball scouts noticed Mathiang’s potential and offered to get him a scholarship in return for his talents. Mathiang is, however, yet to benefit from the deal due to the required qualification conversion process.

“It has already been seven months since I was offered the scholarship, but I am yet to understand how the conversion process works. I may have to sit for another qualification exam in Kenya since my papers are not recognised by KNQA,” Mathiang told UWN.

According to KNQA, the qualification is a planned combination of learning outcomes with a definite purpose and is intended to provide qualifying learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning.

Joining a university in Kenya, requires one to have completed four years in high school and attained a mean grade of at least a C+.

This standard may differ in a country like Sudan or Uganda, where students must spend at least six years in high school before joining a University. As such, a Kenyan going to Uganda in search of higher education has to meet a standard equivalent to that of Uganda and vice versa.

Rollins Oduk, who has been on a basketball scholarship at the Uganda Martyr University, recalls how it took him almost two years to convert his secondary school certificates to meet the qualifications required by the Ugandan system.

“Since Uganda did not have a qualification system like Kenya, I had no choice but to enrol into one of their secondary schools and sit for fresh exams so that I could be accepted by their higher education institutions. In the meantime, I could still play for the University and get some financial benefits as I waited. This is a good move by IGAD, and it will help a lot of foreigners like me,” Oduk told UWN.

According to IGAD, only one of its member states, Kenya, has a properly functioning qualification system that enables foreigners to confirm and convert their qualifications quickly.

Dr Alice Kande, managing director, KNQA, explained that having a regional qualification framework would lessen students’ obstacles when moving across the member states in search of education.

“KNQA is receiving so many foreign qualifications that are awarded without a clear clarification on whether they are accredited in their countries of origin, their requisite volume of learning, the skills that they impart and their equivalence to local qualifications,” Kande told IPS.

“The authority plays an important role in ensuring that authenticity of foreign qualifications is ascertained; and that the country only accepts and recognises foreign qualifications that meet the national standard. By doing this, we hope that students get quality training and education that equips them with the skills necessary to work both locally and internationally and that the country as a whole only accepts and recognises qualifications that meet the national standard and protects the country from fake and substandard qualifications,” she added.

According to Zetech University, it is tough for institutions to enrol international students due to the bureaucracy of specific government offices that frustrates the effort of potential students and the recruiting universities. There is a disconnect that makes it necessary for the concerned offices to sit with the universities and discuss a way forward.

“To join Zetech, foreign students are expected to have a visa, a student pass and the KNQA equation to get admission. It is particularly difficult for Somali students because of the fear of terrorism; hence the student pass takes too long to process,” said Dr Catherine Njoki, Liaison and Resource Mobilization Director Zetech University. A student’s pass can take up to eight months to a year to acquire, making some give up entirely on their education.

“The students are also required to equate their results with the KNQA. This Government body is also very slow in their service delivery, and they decline to support the recruiting institutions with a general guideline of how students can get temporary admission as they await the confirmation. KNQA should become a little flexible with such information and also realise the country needs the foreign exchange as much as the institutions need the students,” Njoki told UWN.

KNQA, however, states that it should only take two to eight weeks for an evaluation process to be concluded.

“According to Kenya National Qualifications Authority, service charter evaluation of qualifications processing time is (14 -60) working days from receipt of an application. This is counted from date of receipt of all relevant documents provided by the applicants,” Kande explained.

The following are some of the requirements that will be expected of someone trying to have his qualifications converted:

(i) Certified copy of each qualification certificate to be evaluated.

(ii) Certified copy of official transcript of each qualification to

be evaluated.

(iii) Certified copy of certificate and transcript of qualification preceding the one

that has been submitted for evaluation.

(iv) Certified copy of Identity Document or birth certificate for children

under the age of 18 for citizens or Passport for foreigners

(v) Translations (if applicable) together with the documents in the original

language prepared by a sworn translator.

Njoki added that IGAD should bring all stakeholders involved to help address these issues.

“I would like to continue with my education through this sports scholarship, and if this harmonised system works, there are many foreigners like me who are going to benefit from it,” Mathiang concluded.

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Dr Paul Kinoti at the JKUAT snail farm, where he is researching the potential of snail slime cough syrup. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, May 29 2023 (IPS)

Snails and slime are usually followed by the thought ‘EEW!’ from most people … some might even scream at seeing a snail near them.

For Dr Paul Kinoti, however, these slimy creatures could earn him international recognition because his research on snails landed his institution, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), a Ksh. 127 million (USD 1 million) grant.

The grant, awarded by the Cherasco Institute of Snail Breeding, Italy, is expected to fund a two-phase research project to produce cough syrup meant for children under five.

As a lecturer at JKUAT’s Horticulture and Food Security department, Kinoti has specialized in non-conventional farming systems for over a decade.

Non-conventional farming is a system that employs modified/unique farming methods in crop and animal production. Kinoti has been researching insects and worms (vermiculture), concentrating on how they add value to supplement crop and livestock production.

According to Kinoti, snails are already associated with a wide variety of products, including animal feeds, skin care products, pharmaceuticals, and fertilizer.

“My research focuses on unique farming methods that farmers are not used to, including rearing insects and worms as a source of livestock feed and fertilizer for plants. I keep black soldier flies and worms which are a major source of proteins for livestock, especially for poultry and fish,” Kinoti explained to IPS.

And as a food security specialist, one of his goals is to encourage people to include snails in their diet, given that it is rich in proteins and iron.

“Lack of awareness is the main reason why Kenyans do not see snails as a source of food for themselves, and getting them to accept it will be a difficult task. This is why we are using a simpler approach by encouraging farmers to take up snail farming to get used to the idea of having snails around them,” he told IPS.

Across the globe, majorly in Asia, parts of Europe, and West Africa, snails are a known delicacy.

The snail products are currently being manufactured within JKUAT, where, through training, they have engaged local farmers to supply them with snail slime (mucin). The institution offers these farmers short, three-day courses on how to rear snails and extract their slime, which they later sell to the institution for profit.

“We are grateful to the institution for opening our minds to an opportunity that has become quite lucrative. Most of the people in Kiambu County are either full-time farmers or have a piece of land somewhere that they have put aside for farming activities, making this a good source of extra income. Snail farming is new to us. Most would never even have considered practicing it due to the culture that we have grown up with,” said Antony Njoroge, one of the local farmers who now farms snails.

During his PhD studies in Austria, Kinoti was introduced to snail farming by his host, a snail farmer.

“When I came back, I realized that snail farming was still alien to Kenya, and rather than just focus on rearing the snails, I decided to research their value addition for farming. It is from this that I was able to come up with different products such as fertilizer, animal feeds, and skin care products,” Kinoti told IPS. The products have been certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and are already in the market.

The idea for the cough syrup did not come about until 2019, when Kinoti conducted field research on snails in Kumasi, Ghana. His visit happened to be during the flu season, where he was surprised at the strange concoctions that parents were using as remedy for their children who were coughing.

“I noticed that rather than being given ginger or lemon tea that most of us are used to when someone gets the flu, their parents were collecting snail slime and mixing it with some bit of honey which they gave the children as a remedy,” Kinoti explained to IPS. This idea stuck in my mind, and when I came back, I decided to do more research on it.

The project’s first phase, which is meant to take two years, will involve identifying the best snail species for production and research on snail slime while encouraging farmers to breed them. The second phase will be manufacturing and producing the cough syrup once it has been approved by the Kenya Food and Drug Authority (KFDA).

The snail species commonly used for slime production is the African giant land snail (Achatina Fulica), which produces up to 4 milliliters of slime per snail. It takes about 250 of these giant snails to make a liter of slime, extracted once weekly.

The Achatina Fulica is native to East Africa, where its origin can be traced to Kenya and Tanzania. Across the globe, it is regarded as an invasive species due to its ability to produce colonies from a single female. It feeds in large quantities and is a carrier for plant pathogens, making it a pest to farmers when it invades their farms. It has spread across the globe through exportation to Europe and Asia as a delicacy, being bought into those areas as a pet or by accidental transportation when it latches on to something.

The project involves a number of experts (mainly within the university) from different departments to help oversee its success. These experts include animal scientists, food scientists, health scientists, and other technical staff who help run the snail farm.

It also works in conjunction with other major institutions such as the Kenya National Museum, whose work is to help them identify the best type of snails for slime production, and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which is the main stakeholder and body that provides them with the license they need to carry out snail farming in Kenya.

As a conservation measure, the snails are not supposed to be harmed during the slime extraction, which makes it a delicate process that involves using citric acid, and the extraction is only done once a week.

Once successful, the cough syrup is expected to help lower the cost of importation since everything will be manufactured locally, thus helping save a lot of money. The farmers are also excited that they no longer have to rely on expensive fertilizer and animal feeds from the government, which has always made their input expensive while giving them little returns.

As a delicacy, snails are primarily spotted in high-end hotels that are mostly visited by foreigners and tourists.

“Growing up, the one memory I had about snails from my biology lessons was that they caused bilharzia, which made me dislike them. Today, I am one of the suppliers of snail meat to some big hotels in Nairobi and Mombasa,” says Brian Wandera, a local businessman from Nairobi. “It is amazing what knowledge can do.”

“I buy the snails from the farmers in Kiambu and sell them to the hotels at a profit. Locally, Kenyans are yet to adopt snail meat as a source of food,” he added.

The grant is also expected to help empower women and the youth by providing them with employment opportunities through training on snail farming, according to Kinoti, an investment of Ksh. 20,000 (USD 190) can earn a snail farmer between Ksh. 50,000 (USD 450) and 100,000 (USD 950) monthly once the snails start to produce their slime, usually at four months. The slime is categorized into three grades which are sold at different prices.

“We buy the slime from the farmers at a fee of Ksh. 1200 (USD 11) per liter for grade A slime, Ksh. 850 (USD 8) per liter for grade B slime and Ksh. 650 (USD 6) for grade C slime,” Kinoti concluded.

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Stagnant water in one of Nairobi’s residential areas. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, May 8 2023 (IPS)

‘Urban’ Kenya has been alerted because new mosquito species, Anopheles stephensi, threatens to derail decades of effort made in the fight against malaria.

According to a report by experts from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), the species was first noted during routine mosquito surveillance in Saku and Laisamis villages in Marsabit County. The report states that, unlike the traditional mosquito vector, the Anopheles stephensi can adapt to man-made habitats that include plastic containers, discarded car tyres and open sewer lines—this makes urban centres a hot spot for their prevalence.

Anopheles stephensi is endemic to South Asia and Arabian Peninsula, where it is a known carrier for two malaria variants Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax. It was first noted at the Horn of Africa ten years ago in Djibouti, after which it was later tracked down in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan in 2019.

The species is also known to survive through different climatic conditions, which can enable it to cause problems all year round if left uncontrolled.

‘’This mosquito most likely spreads through ships coming in from Asia since genetic analysis of many of the samples collected in Africa shows they are closely related to those found in Asia. Once they got to Africa, it is highly likely they have been transported southwards on the road,’’ said Dr Eric Ochomo, the project’s lead researcher and an entomologist at the KEMRI, Kisumu.

‘’It breeds in a wide range of habitats, mostly water storage containers that are not covered, manholes, overhead tanks, poorly dumped plastic containers etc.’’

Malaria has been a perennial problem in Kenya and Africa, given the vast tropical conditions that favour mosquitos and unreliable health facilities that make its control and treatment an almost impossible hurdle.

While being a nuisance in Africa, most malaria cases and mortalities have been recorded in rural areas, characterized by a lack of adequate medical amenities, unreliable infrastructure, and a lack of knowledge among residents.

Urban areas have usually been spared the malaria burden due to access to proper medical facilities and a good understanding of the disease and how to control and prevent it.

This notion may, however, change for the worse as this new mosquito species threatens the demographics and steps made in the fight against malaria in Africa.

‘’This species is different from the traditional mosquito for two main reasons; A) its diversity of breeding habitats means it can breed in rural and urban settings alike, which means that it is not restricted to rural habitats like the Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus which are the most common vectors in Kenya at the moment. B) It can transmit both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax parasites. We currently have very low levels of P. vivax transmission in Kenya, and this could be increased by this vector,’’ Ochomo explained to IPS.

Despite the 2020 world malaria report showing a significant decrease in malaria deaths over the past two decades (from 84 percent in 2000 to 67 percent in 2019), it remains one of Africa’s leading causes of death, especially among pregnant women and children under the age of five.

The report stated that 51 percent of the global malaria deaths were in Africa, with Burkina Faso (4%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11 percent), Nigeria (23 percent), Mozambique (4 percent), Niger (4 percent) and Tanzania (5 percent).

In Kenya, most malaria cases are centred around the malaria endemic areas, including the coastal and lake regions, which form prime breeding spots for female anopheles mosquitos. For the cases reported in towns such as Nairobi, a follow-up on the patient’s movements often reveals that they recently visited or through one of these malaria-endemic places and got infected.

A researcher from KEMRI’s Entomology Department tests stagnant water for the new species of mosquito. Credit: KEMRI’s Entomology Department

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about 3.5 million malaria cases are reported in Kenya annually, with about 10,700 mortalities. Out of this, western Kenya (lake region) usually records the highest number of cases at 45 percent.

The lake and coastal regions are categorized as malaria-endemic due to the favourable temperature and humid conditions they provide for mosquito breeding.

With most people in central Kenya and the highland areas having little exposure to malaria infections, this new vector could prove problematic given their immune system’s primitiveness to the disease.

The 2020 Kenya malaria indicator report says that low-risk malaria areas include Nairobi, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Kiambu, Machakos, Makueni, Laikipia, Nakuru, and Meru. Most of these areas are considered urbanized compared to most parts of Kenya.

Seasonally, areas that experience malaria outbreaks include Tana River, Marsabit, Isiolo, Meru, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Turkana, Samburu, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kajiado. This is mainly due to the arid and semi-arid conditions experienced throughout the year that do not favour mosquito breeding.

‘’What this means is that we are going to have more incidences of malaria because this vector can thrive in both rural and urban settings and many other geographical regions,’’ says Dr Alex Owino, Medical Superintendent, Katulani Sub-County Hospital, Kitui.

‘’Kitui county falls under the low-risk malaria areas, with the few cases recorded being mainly from patients who had recently travelled outside the county,’’ he told IPS.

Owino explained that controlling malaria was easy when there were specific places where the host mosquito was known to favour. However, with this new vector being able to spread widely, it becomes a threat to the efforts made in the fight against malaria.

Being a developing country, parts of urban Kenya are characterized by poorly planned housing facilities, inadequate drainage systems and poor waste disposal management. Nairobi, for instance, is also known for hosting the largest slum in the country, Kibera, coupled with the Nairobi dam, which has, for years, made the headlines for having all manner of pollution destroying it.

All these conditions have been a recipe for various diseases, such as cholera and typhoid, causing health problems, especially in the slum areas. Now, malaria may have just added to the burden that these town dwellers have to deal with.

Ochomo said that, unlike the traditional malaria-causing mosquitoes, Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funfests, the Anopheles stephensi is an invasive species that could bring malaria transmission to these areas where there is a large number of naive (have never had malaria) individuals.

‘’These individuals could get far more severe symptoms than people who have been exposed since birth,’’ he told IPS.

Wilson Opudo, a public health and infectious diseases specialist, also believes that the ongoing changes in climate conditions are likely to increase the malaria burden by creating mosquito breeding zones in areas where they were not a concern.

‘’Despite malaria being known to favour certain parts of Kenya, the recent changes in climate which have resulted in temperature increase and hydrological changes may help form new areas for the malaria vector breeding thus bringing malaria to places where it initially did not exist,’’ Opudo told IPS.

‘’This will put a lot of pressure on the malaria control commodities currently available for the endemic areas of Africa and could result in increased disease burden,’’ he added.

Ochomo concluded that its presence in urban settings means controlling this new vector will rely on properly managing waste disposal, covering water containers, and draining stagnant water.

‘’There is very little information available on the behaviour of the adult mosquitoes and an urgent need to invest in the research on this to inform what control methods would be applicable for the adult mosquitoes,’’ said Ochomo.

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A child has her teeth examined remotely. The Daktari Smart technology means children in rural Kenya are linked to specialist care in big centres. Credit: Daktari Smart

By Wilson Odhiambo
Nairobi, Aug 8 2022 (IPS)

New telemedicine technology, Daktari Smart, aims to mitigate the gap between child patients and medical specialists in rural Kenya.

Officially launched in November 2021, the system was built to help sick children have easy access to medical specialists minus the cost of being physically present (remote/digital access). According to them, this will help optimise the delivery of healthcare systems.

Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board estimate that the current patient-to-doctor ratio is 6,355 to 1. These statistics highlight the difficulty that patients have in accessing qualified medical personnel and specialists. Patients from rural and marginalised areas are especially disadvantaged, with some dealing with a total lack of adequate facilities. Others are left to contend with referrals that see them delay treatment.

Daktari Smart thus comes in as the “haven” that these patients had been waiting for, targeting over 32,000 children in Homabay, Samburu, Baringo and Lamu counties in its first phase of operation.

“Daktari Smart is a telemedicine device that offers connections between different counties or locations and the provider of the services,” says Olivia Achieng, program coordinator at Gertrude’s Hospital Foundation.

“This telemedicine system involves electronic medical devices connected to form a platform that enables the clinical workers at the different counties to interact directly with the specialists and sub-specialists in Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital.”

Like many developing countries, Kenya is characterised by limited health facilities in rural areas. Most health specialists and special care facilities are located in the city, mainly Nairobi. Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi hospital, and Aga Khan Hospital are among the largest and most reputable hospitals in Nairobi, Kenya, but are over 400 kilometres from Lamu, Homabay, and Samburu counties.

Specialists include paediatricians, surgeons, psychiatrists, and neurologists – the list is long.

“The poor doctor-to-patient ratio makes it hard to get specialists in far-flung areas, making it hard for these patients to get the quality care they deserve. To get the specialist care they need, they will need to travel to cities like Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret or Nakuru, which is expensive and time-consuming. This is the gap that Daktari Smart is trying to bridge,” Achieng explained.

Rather than send the patient to a different facility or hospital, the referral process will now be able to be done within the same facility. The patient will be booked and referred over the telemedicine platform.

According to Achieng, the system comprises several electronic devices such as a stethoscope, vital sign monitor, derma scope, electrocardiogram, and ultrasound machine, among many other medical devices assembled to form the telemedicine platform.

Children in rural Kenya can now benefit from a full health assessment without travelling for miles to urban centres. Credit: Daktari Smart

All these devices are attached to a monitor, which allows the specialist to see the patient’s information in real-time. This means that the specialist doesn’t have to rely on second-hand information or someone else’s interpretation of the patient’s condition because they can see everything as it is transmitted first-hand.

Anyango said that once the specialist in Nairobi is done attending to the children he is with, he can then go to the telemedicine room and see whether he has any bookings from Lamu, Samburu, Homabay or Baringo county.

“It is also important to note that this is a paediatric referral platform which means that before a child is referred, he or she has to be properly assessed by the health worker to determine whether or not the case requires a specialist’s attention,” she said.

The M-PESA Foundation invested over Ksh 168 million (about 1.4 million US dollars) in the project, with the expectation of bringing on board two more needy counties and ensuring they can help as many patients as possible.

“One of our main pillars under M-PESA Foundation is healthcare. For this particular telemedicine program, we have partnered with Gertrude’s Hospital Foundation, Gertrude’s Hospital and Safaricom PLC,” said Karen Basiye, Director, Sustainable Business, Social Impact and M-PESA Foundation.

“Our aim is to address the delays in receiving adequate healthcare in rural and underserved areas through telemedicine, starting with Samburu, Homabay, Baringo and Lamu Counties. Two other counties will be brought on board in the next phase of this program,” Basiye told IPS.

“Patients, who have children aged up to 21 years, who would otherwise have to spend a significant amount of time and money on travelling long distances to urban areas to seek care, will now be able to receive specialist care from their local health facility. As a foundation, we are the program’s main funder, investing over Ksh 168 million towards the initiative over the next three years,” added Basiye.

Basiye said that the bandwidth requirement for the system is low, ranging from 512kps to 2Mbps, which makes it suitable for use in rural areas with poor internet connectivity.

“The mission and vision for Gertrude’s Hospital Foundation are to ensure the poor and the needy in the community are taken care of. We noted that the hard-to-reach areas in Kenya are underserved in terms of medical specialists, and this project thus enables us to offer the health part, while M-PESA Foundation helps with the financial side,” Anyango continued.

Dr Alex Owino, Medical Superintendent, Katulani Sub- County hospital, Kitui, agrees that Daktari smart is a great initiative given the few specialist doctors who handle delicate and complex medical cases.

“Most of these specialist doctors are found in major towns, which makes access to specialist care by patients from rural areas very difficult as they have to use a lot of resources just to get to them,” Owino told IPS. “The whole of Kitui county, for instance, has only three paediatricians serving it, which means that general practitioners like ourselves will have to cover the gaps”.

“Having specialists use technology to provide care for patients in hard-to-reach areas will thus lead to better health outcomes as it cuts the need for movement for patients who need help and health workers who may need training,” Owino said.

Owino explained technology is quickly revolutionising medicine with various gadgets and applications being introduced to help improve areas of weakness that have mainly been witnessed in developing countries.

“This technology will not only help the patients but also be very useful in helping improve the knowledge and skills for the health workers in those areas,” Owino concluded.

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Thanks to the Technical University of Kenya (TUK), fishers on Lake Victoria may soon have a drone keeping an eye on them and making sure they do not fall victim to border conflicts. Credit: TUK

By Wilson Odhiambo
Nairobi, Jul 14 2022 (IPS)

It is exactly two years since George Omuodo’s brutal confrontation with fishers from Uganda, an encounter that left him hospitalized with a broken arm and bruised ribs. After listening to his ordeal, one wonders where he gets the courage to go back to the lake every day.

“I have to feed my family,” Omuodo tells IPS.

Omuodo is a 28-year-old fisher from Homabay county, a place famously known for its fishing activities with its large harbor and string of fishing boats lined up along the shores of Lake Victoria.

George Omuodo, who relies on fishing on Lake Victoria, had a violent confrontation with fishers from Uganda. Now a pilot project using a drone to keep fishers from border conflicts could assist in keeping him safe. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

Omuodo and most of his friends rely on fishing, a source of food and income for their families. The only problem with this humble lifestyle is that it suddenly turned risky.

Border conflicts have been a perennial problem for local authorities on Lake Victoria for a long time, which has seen some fishermen lose their lives as they participate in their trade. The infamous Migingo Island is one example of border conflict that has seen many Kenyan fishers suffer at the hands of Ugandan authorities. The fishermen complained of being harassed by the border patrols, some of whom forced them to give up their equipment, catch, and even freedom due to trespassing rules.

“The area around Migingo is good for fishing and is what drives us there. However, the Ugandan government believes that Migingo Island is their territory and that all the fish around the area belong to them. Their border patrol and fishermen have been harassing us,” Omuodo lamented.

“Since this is our only source of livelihood, we have no choice but to constantly risk our lives just to earn a living for ourselves,” he said.

Omuodo and his friends may finally have someone to watch over them as they go about their business.

Thanks to the Technical University of Kenya (TUK), fishers on Lake Victoria may soon have a drone keeping an eye on them and making sure they do not fall victim to border conflicts.

In 2018, TUK embarked on a project that saw them develop their nanosatellite dubbed “TUKSat-1,” which was aimed at monitoring security on Lake Victoria, including helping local authorities in rescue operations.

According to TUK, the satellite works by relaying coordinates, including pictorial views, to the relevant personnel, thus aiding in tracking water vessels and people who go missing on the lake.

TUKSat-1 aims to mitigate this problem by sounding an alarm whenever a Kenyan vessel drifts too close to a Kenya-Tanzania or Kenya-Uganda border.

Professor Paul Baki, the project’s lead investigator, said the nanosatellite program was a joint effort that involved disciplines from various schools such as mechanical and process engineering, surveying and geospatial technologies, aerospace, and aeronautical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering as well as physics and earth sciences. Credit: TUK

Professor Paul Baki, the project’s lead investigator, told IPS that the nanosatellite program was a joint effort that involved disciplines from various schools such as Mechanical and process engineering, surveying and geospatial technologies, aerospace and aeronautical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering as well as physics and earth sciences.

“The TUKSat-1 program was initiated at the University in 2018 and involved collaborations between TUK and other institutions abroad,” Baki told IPS. “We were able to get funding from the Kenya Space Agency in 2020 and built the 1U nanosatellite (10cm³ in volume) between October 2020 to October 2021,” he added.

Baki said that the parts used to build the satellite were bought locally, and all the work was done in TUK’s physics laboratory.

Space exploration is not alien to Kenya, as NASA once launched a satellite from the San Marco launch site, Malindi, in 1970. Despite the satellite (dubbed Small Astronomical Satellite 1, SAS-1) not being Kenyan-owned, it did bear the Kenyan slogan “UHURU,” and the launch was a historic moment for a country that had just gained its independence. The satellite was also the first of its kind dedicated to X-ray astronomy.

Fast forward five decades later, where the University of Nairobi was able to build the first Kenyan-owned satellite (1st Kenyan University Nanosatellite-Precursor Flight) 1KUNS – PF, which was launched from the international space station in the United States.

The CubeSat, assembled by University of Nairobi (UON) engineering students in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was launched into the international space station on May 11, 2018. Its purpose was to carry out technological tests while recording details about the earth.

The UON got its funding, worth Ksh.120 million (about US$ 1miillion), from the joint space program between JAXA and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in 2016.

However, unlike the 1KUNS-PF, which currently floats around in space, the TUKSat-1 was launched on a drone and is meant to demonstrate the technology in preparation for more technical launches.

“Space technology and exploration will soon influence our economy and livelihood,” said Seth Odhiambo Nyawacha, a Geomatics Application Expert at Locate IT Limited. It is time Africa started producing the minds needed for technological advancements.

Nyawacha explained that Africa quickly became a consumer of space-based technology and products, which called for investments from stakeholders, especially in education and training about space technology and its exploration.

“With the development of the African Space Agency, soon to be hosted in Egypt, the continent will require home-based technicians and engineers to propel our satellites to space, ranging from communication satellites, weather forecast satellites in the wake of climate change, among other satellite types,” Nyawacha told IPS. He applauded the effort by JAXA and UNOOSA to help fund and train engineers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A 2021 Kenyan-Spaceport report said that Kenya’s position on the equator made it a suitable center for rocket launches, and Marsabit was chosen as the site for setting up a spaceport.

The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Moi University are other Kenyan institutions interested in space exploration.

“Kenya has shown great potential in space technology, and we should use this opportunity to set up a small-scale domestic space industry. As a country, we need to tap into the bright minds in our universities and help them propel Kenya into the frontiers of space technology,” Baki added.

Omuodo doesn’t understand much about satellites but welcomes any measure that would help them ply their trade in peace.

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