Malawi Vision 2020
On Monday, 18th July 1994, I sat excitedly in the delegate hall at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohammad gave his speech on why he believed Science and Technology should be the main driver of his country’s Vision 2020. I remember this date for two reasons. First, the speech was very inspiring and second because the PM joked about how impressed he was with himself after noticing the number of delegates that kept nodding in agreement to his speech - only to realise later that they were struggling to keep awake as most delegates were football fans. On the otherside of the world (in USA), Brazil had just beaten Italy on Post-match penalties to win the World Cup and most of us had watched the match till 06am Malaysia time, and quickly took a shower, rushed to the meeting which started at 09am. It was a moment of brilliance spicing the rather practical and professional meeting. In his speech he outlined why Malaysia adopte...