**Founding head of national science council named as country's first principal secretary for research**
A move by the government of Kenya to create a new State Department for Science, Research and Innovation has been hailed as a timely step likely to direct more focus to the country’s knowledge and innovation capacity.
The department will sit under the Ministry of Education and will be headed by a principal secretary with its own staff and a budget. Previously, science research and innovation had shared a PS with higher education under the State Department for Higher Education and Research.
While the government is yet to officially confirm the creation of the new state department, the change was reported across Kenyan media last week after president William Ruto nominated Shaukat Abdulrazak (pictured) as the new PS for science, research and innovation, subject to vetting and parliamentary approval as part of wide-ranging changes to the country’s government.
If Abdulrazak’s appointment is approved, it will mark the first time science, research and innovation has its own top-level civil servant.
Abdulrazak is the founding director of Kenya’s National Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (Nacosti) and a 2023 fellow of the International Science Council. He currently heads the Africa division of the technical cooperation department at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
**‘****Timely decision****’**
“This is a very timely decision; Kenya has always needed a fully fledged department of science to help direct more focus into science and innovations, particularly in implementation and commercialisation of research,” said Stephen Karimi, a veterinary scientist who works as an independent research consultant based in Nairobi.
Karimi, who is a former deputy director of Nacosti, said the new department was likely to end duplication of the three functions of science, research and innovation, which at times were scattered across different government ministries and institutions.
He told Research Professional News that he expects the new directorate will result in “increased funding for research, with more attention being paid to innovations and innovators and building of strong ties between the research community and industry”. However, he added that a full ministry for science, research and innovation would have been an even better outcome.
Karimi hailed Abdulrazak as the right person for the job. He described his former colleague as having risen through the ranks from academia as a lecturer and administrator at Egerton University and being very familiar with Kenya’s science landscape.
A Ministry of Education official declined to formally disclose all the entities that will fall under the new directorate, but admitted these would likely include Nacosti, the Kenya National Innovation Agency, the National Research Fund and the National Biosafety Authority.