By Janet Karim
5And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. 7And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them… Genesis 42:5-7
The high-level meeting on promoting policy coherence on health technology innovation and access in the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) officially opened on Wednesday in Lilongwe by President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika is a welcomed event.
Additionally, great support is given to the President for his remarks that the time for Africa placing the lives of its people at the mercy of others is over and that indeed, the continent should invest heavily in research and innovation in order to create a healthier wellbeing for its people.
With humiliating massive donor fatigue of its traditional donors, mostly former colonials, Mutharika’s statement that Africa must be obligated and take leadership to create a healthy continent whose populace is able to actively participate in development work for the progress of their nations.
“As Africa we must remember that nobody owes us a life and we owe our existence to nobody. As Africans we must not be afraid of innovations, as both innovation and civilization begun in Africa, so let us build from there as we forge ahead,” said Professor Mutharika.
“We must be diligent in supporting research and development of affordable vaccines and medicines for developing countries. This means we must actively support innovations of health technologies above all we need harmonized approaches.
“We must ensure that our policies are talking to each other even in the ARICO country member states, among government ministries, departments and agencies that they all promote health technologies and ensure access to affordable medicines in our nations,” he said.
The main purpose of the ARICO gathering was to promote technologies that save lives which is the spirit that would save Africa as it promotes the availability of essential medicines.
“The future of our nations depends on having a healthy and productive citizen. Only healthy people can participate in development activities. We need to be healthy for us to be in a position to create wealth,” he said.
While giving a resounding bravo shout out to the President, in the same breath a cautionary word is sent out to the leadership that we should collect and call out all our achievements from everywhere. We should protect the inventions of our nationals.
Malawians have scientists, innovators, inventors, and people in the entertainment world. Let’s claim them, lap them in our Hall of Fame and give them the honor they deserve. This is part of making Africa great again, making Malawi great again.
Sometime in the 1990s scientists at the Chitedze Research Station a fast-growing maize seed was invented/created with assistance from the British Foreign Aid Department (now aka DFID). Seed and documentation are gone. But we either buy some fast-growing seed from foreign countries or are given maize donations when we have famine and are dying of hunger.
Then there are inventors who are part of the great medical research companies around the world. Malawians in the high echelons of power choose to be blind to these. Even the powerful wind-catcher Edward Kamkwamba is on TV and at innovation fairs around the world (including Malawi), the nation ignores him or give him low-key attention. The man makes electricity using wind-mills.
I cried last week when I saw the President make a surprise visit to the ESCOM house to chide them about the persistent blackouts the country is suffering. We are a laughing stock.
We have a lake. We have winds. We have William. Surely it doesn’t take rocket science intelligence to put these three elements together and solve our electricity griefs and woes!
Malawi has a Britain’s Got Talent finalist (Dalitso Chaponda by name), and he’s on tour in the country, but no fanfare or frenzy is sounded. This is our lad and he’s a proud Malawian. Malawi should be proud of him too.
Lastly (and in no ways least), we have a Malawian pastor with enough resources to run the government maybe for three to four months, but we don’t acknowledge him. Prophet Shepherd Bushiri is a force running along the lines of Joel Osteen, Cleflo Dollar, T.D. Jakes, T.B. Joshua, and others in terms of his outreach ministry. He has churches and ministers in numerous countries including the US. He is Malawian. Let us pray with him and for him. He is our prophet, a man of God like the revered Reverend James Sangaya and others.
There are many more Malawians that are making big, big, big inventions and roadways in numerous sectors, including health – these are the intellectual property of this land. We should not only encourage Malawians to be innovative, but when Malawians have invented something or climbed to a level in whatever field, let us claim their achievements; let us celebrate the achievements.
So, Bwana President, while calling on inventions in the health sector and calling for Africa to protect its inventions (as is the mandate of ARICO), let us show some good will by owing what we have achieved so far: wind-catcher Kamwamba, comedian Chaponda and Prophet Bushiri and many others. Their craft is our intellectual property.
Yes, ARICO should record and guard all Africa’s achievements; Malawi too should own its intellectual property.
