27th April 2022
Marvin Motlhabane
With the growing realization in most jurisdictions that traditional knowledge can be used as a wealth creation tool, steps are being taken in Botswana to codify indigenous medicines; with the view to enjoying the benefits of the herbal and treatment discoveries’ value chain.
This has prompted an increasing interest in matters of law and policy concerning traditional knowledge at a national level, particularly in biological resources and cultural merchandise.
This publication recently spoke to the Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BOMRA), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Steven Ghanie to determine the steps taken by the government to harness the value derived from indigenous knowledge, as well as build and strengthen the supporting structures employed to protect the rights of minorities against businesses in the pharmaceutical space.
Dr Ghanie said their findings suggested that the traditional medicines’ value chain was not organized, as such, people belonging to this niche ought to unite and speak with one voice to spell out their challenges and efforts to enhance possibility of codification.
He said BOMRA had managed to set up a position of a research officer within its organizational structure that will ensure sustained contact with people trading in traditional medicines.
Dr Ghanie said their interest is to ensure that this value chain is developed; adding that the goal was to have the products being sold openly in pharmaceutical shops; having dossiers and all related specifications included in conventional medicines.
“Already, we have partnered with key entities locally that are working on crafting regulations governing these traditional medicines, and the intention is to cascade them to indigenous people dealing with the said products,” he said.
He said he had suggested to the Ministry of Health to reserve a budget for sponsoring projects that would support clinical trials around traditional medicines annually.
Dr Ghanie explained that this would help to determine what properties were present in these medicines; the benefits and disadvantages and set well researched standards for some of the products to assist indigenous groups in trying to ensure greater market penetration and accessibility.
He said they recognized that indigenous groups were prone to exploitation by transnational companies for commercial benefit, as they possessed economic and political power to establish businesses at the expense of these minorities, and solve problems accordingly to suit their specific interests.
In particular, he stated that these activities undermine the intellectual capital of indigenous communities, who were often not credited for their major discoveries.
Dr Ghanie also stated that efforts were ongoing to form industry ties with Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), local universities’ Research and Science Departments to investigate, and develop policies that enforce intellectual property rights protection, and possibly patent products that were already in existence.
For his part, a traditional herbalist, Kereng Ramagala of Dibete said he earned his keep through processing traditional medicines from various indigenous plants found within his community and selling them by the roadside.
Ramagala highlighted that he inherited the knowledge of making numerous traditional medicines from his late parents, and this has been the only skill he possesses.
He said his customer base was broad, and its mostly elderly men from various points of the country, who preferred his mix of herbs that worked as sex performance enhancers.
Furthermore, he said among his list of traditional medicines that men desired were those that heal Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), increased libido, enlargement of manhood and increased sperm count.
Moreover, Ramagala said even women often stopped over at his premises to purchase his traditional medicines that specifically focused on cleaning the female reproductive system.
When asked about the efficacy of his medicines, he said his customers could share their testimonies, adding that return customers were proof enough to those in doubt.
Ramagala said government officials visited him on several occasions lately, to appreciate his products and assess whether interventions for standardization of his traditional medicines could be reached.
He indicated that he was hopeful those interventions would help him transform his knowledge into conventional medicines that could easily obtain shelve space in pharmaceutical shops; with a well-presented dossier and instructions for use.
“With appropriate capital, trust, information, research, empowerment, networking, social capital, technology and market access, we could be the epicentre of medicinal and treatment discoveries,” Ramagala explained.
Meanwhile, Advocate Dr Unity Dow representing the minorities in this matter, said there was recognition and appreciation of these traditional medicines at the government level.
Dr Dow stated that policies had been ratified by the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture, which ensured the protection and preservation of indigenous plants, on which these herbalists’ lives depend.
She said these policies prohibited the introduction of alien species (foreign trees) in local settlements, especially after developments were carried out in a community.
She said there was a need to recognize that indigenous people’s knowledge of traditional medicines relied on local forestry, therefore, the preservation of native trees was equally essential.
Currently, there are no strict requirements ensuring that native plants belonging to a specific settlement were planted back after construction activities, to prevent certain indigenous trees being extinct and consequently undermining the production capacity of traditional medicines and discoveries, she said.
“Policies are there but I don’t think we appreciate their importance and this calls on government offices to actively enforce them,” she said.
Dr Dow reiterated that every indigenous plant has a form of medicinal purpose, therefore, urged researchers to join hands with communities to harness the traditional knowledge in the medicinal space and the benefits thereof.
In conjunction with pillar number one of the presidential transformation agenda, a knowledge-based economy sets the tone for the adoption of indigenous information toward economic diversification. Ends
