Harvard scholar who put Kenya on global map

Late Havard University lecturer Calestous Juma. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By GEORGE OMONDI

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Summary

• Death of Havard don Prof Calestous Juma robs Africa of its top expert in tech innovation.

Think of a university don who wakes up thinking that the much talked about “green revolution” is a Western concept that can only resolve Africa’s hunger if modified to suit the continent’s circumstances.

That idea is promptly shared with people in his network but as reactions begin to flow back, the man has kicked off yet another discussion.

Algeria’s launch of Alcomsat-1, a communication satellite has just caught his attentions and shifted his interest to China’s aerospace cooperation with Africa.

Minutes later, the don is in his faculty office, skimming through a 100-page academic paper which argues that nobody becomes an inventor unless born in a rich family and in a country that values innovation.

The foregoing description makes for the tip of an iceberg in what a typical day in the life of Prof Calestous Juma, the indefatigable Kenyan scholar who passed on last week, has been like.

Up to the time of his death, Prof Juma used his perch as the director of Harvard Kennedy School’s science, technology, and globalisation project to keep his eyes firmly on Africa. And a Twitter handle acquired in April 2009 became his preferred platform for engagement with the continent.

His 114,000 followers on Twitter must have been wowed by the versatility of the Harvard scholar and a biotechnology icon who believed in serving innovation to the target audience while still hot.

Here is a man who roots for tax reforms as a way of taming inequality in Africa this minute and calls for evidence-based scrutiny of gene-driven technology the next minute.

As elective politics roiled economies of a number of African countries last year, including Kenya’s, Prof Juma too would sail along the currents.

But even at that, the intellect in him would lift him above the mundane partisan discussions. He would start by musing about neural mechanisms that govern political beliefs, marvel at the use of iris recognition technology in Somalia’s presidential election, then switch back to a familiar turf, writing about 3D printed organs that can raise lifespans to 120 years.

A quick review of some of his published articles portrays him as a pan-Africanist. He has consistently pushed for regional integration, rooted for a single continental visa and argued against current border restrictions and slave trade in Libya.

“When it comes to trade, Africa really should be a country,” he argued in a November 16 tweet about an article published in the Quartz Media, an American digital news outlet.

The article which he co-authored with Dr Francis Mangeni, director of trade, customs and monetary affairs at Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, continues: “Africa’s regional integration efforts are the most complex ever undertaken. They are not just about emulating trading rules used in other regions of the world. They are about remaking the continent to create new networked interactions between sovereign states in a flexible way.”

And so African leaders, scholars and regional integration experts from across Africa took to social media sites to mourn one of the continent’s illustrious sons. Here is a sample:

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who can be described as Prof Juma’s Twitter friend going by the number of shared re-tweets said: “We have lost a brilliant mind who was dedicated to innovation, education and Africa’s prosperity.”
Coming from home, President Uhuru Kenyatta said of the Harvard scholar: “We have lost one of our most distinguished scholars and patriots.”

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank also holds fond memories of the Kenyan scholar. He tweeted: “Prof Juma was a world class mind, a fountain of knowledge, an inspiration, (and) a rare gentleman. Africa has lost one of its best intellectual minds on the global stage.”

Prof Makau Mutua, another Kenyan distinguished scholar also had kind words described Prof Juma as an African intellectual giant. “He was a towering scholar and a great human being; the best of the best,” he tweeted. The list of prominent people who have eulogised Prof Juma, but the refrain remains familiar. He was a man of many firsts and hats.

He was born in 1953 in Budalang’i, Busia County. His 25-page CV posted on Harvard website indicates that he taught at the University of Nairobi and several international universities.

He also worked as consultant to Kenyan government, United Nations, World Bank and a host of other international organisations.

Kenya specifically remembers him for his 1991 role in the preparation of the draft Non-Governmental Organisations Coordination Act.

He was also instrumental in the 1989 preparation of the Industrial Property Bill which led to the establishment of the Kenya Industrial Property Office.

He has written serval books, reports and more than 500 articles on environment, science and technology in newspapers and magazines in Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe.