科学与发展网络(SciDev.Net)

That the Kenya polls fiasco is playing at the global science and economics stage is not surprising. I would agree with all who subscribe to the fact that blind science and economics, which do not address injustices and inequitable distribution of resources, is but sheer dumb capitalism exported into the whole picture. This is why the Kenyan masses, the majority of them poor, wanting and long-wretched, are expressing their anger at the election debacle so loudly.

But if the science world misses this opportunity to implore on governments in developing nations to adopt strategies that would address such issues, it will cost us lives again — not only at the political battlefront, but at the altar of scientific indisposition too.

These strategies need not be too expensive or degrading to our environment — we can adopt cheaper energy alternatives by harnessing the sun (still largely untapped) to drive our budding industries and provide electricity to more homes and rural businesses. In this way, more and more opportunities shall be open to the majority who feel that generating adequate income and crossing the poverty line is only a mirage.