The Kenyan Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has lauded the Italian Government for establishing an International Centre for Space Education in Kenya. This announcement was made by the Cabinet Secretary while on tour with the Italian Head of state, President Sergio Mattarella, to the San Marco Space Luigi Broglio Centre.
The space education centre, located at the San Margo Space Luigi Broglio Centre in Ngomeni, Kilifi County, was instrumental in building capacity for Kenyan engineers and other professionals in the region.
According to the Defence Cabinet Secretary, Kenya has an unwavering ambition to leverage space technologies for socio-economic development, and the Malindi Space Centre is vital to achieving this. Furthermore, he noted how the International Centre would be integral for in-orbit space operations as there is a growing desire for the centre to expand its competencies in the future in such areas. The Cabinet Secretary concluded by alluding to leveraging the centre’s presence and setting Kenya up as an emerging space authority through international collaboration.
Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro appealed to the Italian and Kenyan governments to ensure that the San Marco Luigi Broglio Space Center benefits both countries equally and includes the local community in its developments. Mung’aro emphasised that more should be done to empower the local community and regretted how the local community has historically been left behind in development.
According to the Governor, the Italian government has yet to make good on its promise of constructing an 11-kilometre road leading to the International Space Centre. In addition, Mung’aro spoke about the need to engage the government as an actor to facilitate effective management of the centre.
The Chairman of the Kenya Space Agency (KSA), Major General (rtd) James Aruasa, said that the space centre had started benefiting the Kenyan people through training in space technology. He mentioned that the support of the Italian Space Agency was instrumental in facilitating capacity building, infrastructure support and sharing space-derived data. Additionally, this would strengthen bilateral relations.
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