Kenya should focus on the right innovations

Occasionally, mainstream media houses amuse when they highlight Kenyan ‘innovations’.

A young man is paraded at prime news time. He will have put together a contraption he is calling an ‘aeroplane’. The last instalment I remember was something ferried on a pick-up to an open field, with the media in tow. It did not fly.

Dear reader, I do not intend to pour cold water on the creativity of these young people. That someone can invest his time and money on something he believes can fly is already something. I get a lot of thrashing even from engineers when I say this is wasting creativity.

The argument often goes like this: ‘...that’s how the Wright Brothers invented the first plane... You are anti-development... we should build our own...’

Perhaps these youths should be sponsored for aeronautical courses where they could learn that take-off was solved 114 years ago.

They may learn about problems in carbon emission and noise, reaction engines and slush hydrogen motors... oh, and QUESST; Quiet Supersonic Technology.

The Wright Brothers invented the aeroplane 100 years ago. If I were to build an aircraft today, I would be repeating what was has been done and perfected since 1903. There is nothing wrong in making stuff invented over 20 years ago. Article 33 of the WTO’s TRIPs Agreement provides for that.

One, making helicopters today had better improve on the existing flying technology. Otherwise it would just be reinventing the wheel.

When I watch ‘aircraft’ on TV, several questions come to mind. What is innovation for? What and when do we need to invent?

First, innovation is a human trait. It is a function of the brain meant to solve our challenges. Man is the only animal least endowed in survival instincts. Scientists say most wild animals will sense an earthquake long before it happens.

After the 2005 Tsunami in Asia, it was observed that animals in parks near the sea in Java had moved to safer grounds days before the tsunami killed 300 people!

But man compensates his weaknesses courtesy of a superior brain. By using it, he manages to be ahead of animals in many scores. Secondly, all innovations should meet existing needs. The English phrase for irrelevant innovations is: white elephant.

Our needs and challenges dictate the type of innovation required at a particular time. Compare our helicopter innovators with Asibu Abudu, a 30 year Ghanaian who has over 20 life-easing inventions under his belt. He has invented a fufu pounding machine, a cell phone car tracking software and other daily-problem solvers.

I knew Morris Gachamba, who famously made an airplane. Nobody saw it fly. But I remember Gachamba riding a tuk tuk around Nyeri town. I believe it was the first one there.

This is way back in 1978, long before the noisy vehicles from Asia populated our roads. The famous man had actually modified an old scooter into a four-passenger vehicle.

Now, that is relevant innovation. For me, it is a tragedy that the attention was on the aeroplane that the mechanic supposedly made.

I suppose making an airplane sounds cool. Talking at Kenyatta University sometimes ago, Ngugi wa Thiong’o said Gachamba should have been supported to realise his flying dream.

But I think he would have succeeded in assembling tuk tuks. The social- economic value would have been higher. The chances of me buying a helicopter are zilch, unless I win the lotto several times over.

Why is Africa poor? What are the challenges in Africa today? Raise your hand if you think Africa is poor for lack of helicopters, yachts and aeroplanes.

We have been unable to adopt relevant technology to solve our current problems. At least 48 per cent of people without electricity in the world are in Africa. The high cost of power is a hindrance to economic development.

If only our innovators could channel their creativity in solving our energy problems, we would solve most of challenges: water purification and distribution, post-harvest waste, health, rural industrialisation. Then after, we manufacture planes or rocks. It is about priorities.

I am for small-scale technology. They don’t have even to invent anything. They can adopt (transfer) ideas from elsewhere. Here are some:
I am looking for an affordable gasifier; a gadget that converts biomaterial into gas for cooking and lighting.

Imagine all that kitchen waste, grass in your yard, the shrubbery along paths turned into fuel and even electricity. It is not new. It is widely used in southern Asia. The designs are in the internet.

The doors of my house get very hot during hot months. They are hottest between January and April and September to December. I have not smoked something illegal but I know someone who got blistered by a real hot door.

There must be a way, some material that can be put on a hot door and trap all this energy.
Why can’t a motor bike be modified so that when not in use, it can also pump water or turn a dynamo to produce electricity?