Ethical analysis of science, technology and innovation policies in four East African countries

Abstract

Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) policy is an essential part of the larger public policy programming in order to improve livelihoods and quality of life. Extant literatures indicate that policy-making is driven largely by economic considerations. Policy studies came into being largely as a response to a need to guide development of nations and competition among them. However, there has been a resurging interest in ethics of policies in the last few years as a response to the empiricist approach that followed the Second World War. Partly, this is due to concerns about policy makers‟ failure to address the moral ambiguity in technology development and adoption, and possible dire consequences that could arise from this failure. The main objective of the study was to analyze the ethical frameworks underlying the ST&I policies of Kenya and three selected eastern African countries namely Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda using content analysis. The study found that the policies are predominantly utilitarian in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. In Tanzania it was found to be duty based. On whether it is necessary analyze ethics in ST&I policy, it was found that there are compelling reasons to undertake this task as this would give technology a more useful measure for determining whether it is responding to man‟s need for authentic development.