South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are Top Three in Science in Africa

Gatonye Gathura

Nairobi — Kenya is ranked third in the production of new scientific knowledge on the continent.

 However, this is not enough to propel the country into a knowledge-based economy or out of poverty, says the 2010 Science Report to be launched in Nairobi on Friday morning.

Kenya was among the top three publishers of scientific publications from sub-Saharan Africa between 2005-09.

The country also rates highly in the application for patents with the US Patents Office and is third on the continent in Internet access after Sudan and Zimbabwe.

But a close scrutiny of the scores shows little cause to celebrate. While Kenya made 24 patent applications within the study period, the Unesco report shows South Africa as having acquired 465 patents.

South Africa publishes almost half of all scientific articles in the sub-continent, followed by Nigeria (11 per cent) and Kenya (six per cent).

This low performance in science and technology is blamed on poor university education, little investment in the sector and increasing cases of brain drain.

To check on brain drain, Kenya has been encouraged to borrow from Fifa, the world football governing organisation, which allows players in foreign countries to appear for their countries for national duty.

What is now being referred to as the “fifarisation” of brains was mooted in Nairobi in March.

Entitled by law

In such an arrangement, a Kenyan scientist or researcher working abroad would be entitled by law to return home to undertake a certain assignment of national importance.

“Once their mission was accomplished, they would return to their working stations.

“In this way, a team of medical professionals working in the US and Europe, for instance, travel home once in a while to share their knowledge and skills,” says the report.

A look at the subjects local researchers are publishing, the report reveals a narrow spectrum of study areas making the country a net importer of skills in the science industry.

“In Kenya, the life sciences, which include clinical medicine, biology and biomedical research represented as much as 93 per cent of scientific articles in 2008, compared to four per cent for earth and space sciences.

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