ABSTRACT
Kenya, one of the sub-Saharan African countries to lobby at the WTO against the inclusion of IP rights protection within the multilateral trading system, also encountered difficulties in the implementation of the TRIPS-compliant IP legislation. While Kenya is seen as a pharmaceutical hub of the EAC, it had, and continues to have its own battles with transnational pharmaceutical corporations (TNPCs) in the utilisation of TRIPS flexibilities to ensure access to affordable ARVs, and other life-saving medication. The resistance had come from both within and without to the implementation. The TNPCs were even able to influence the legislative assembly to passing the Anti-Counterfeit Act 2008, which effectively would have denied access to generics in the treatment of ARVs and other medicines. This chapter takes up for Kenya’s difficulties in implementing the TRIPS-compliant legislation into its national laws and its efforts to give effect to the flexibilities to access affordable medicines.
