ABSTRACT

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) developed because my proposal to create a research wing at the University of Nairobi’s medical school was rejected, as I have mentioned. Our work on the Science and Technology Amendment Act created KEMRI as an institution but we had no funding and no physical location. We opened its doors officially as KEMRI on Monday, the 5th of November 1979 following the appointment of its Board of Management on 1st November 1979 as published in the Gazette. I think that must have been thereabouts on a Thursday because usually Gazette notices are published on Thursdays. Then I think KEMRI must have been active immediately. What used to happen was that all government notices used to be published on a Thursday, announcing appointments and so on, and there would also be a radio announcement covering the issues that were announced on that Thursday. For instance, it would indicate the date a bill was effective. But I think the first Chairman and the Board for KEMRI was announced on 1st November.