On Thursday afternoon 04 April 2024, which marked the third day of the Multidisciplinary Conference and Innovation Week, I was honoured to moderate a plenary session on Blue economy and Maritime affairs took place at Technical University of Mombasa's assembly hall.
The TUM VC, Prof Laila Abubakar chaired the plenary alongside the chief guest, Captain Suleiman Bakari FAMP-K AFNI ACIArb , who is the president of the association of MARITIME PRACTITIONERS -KENYA , and a senior marine pilot at KPA. The expert panel consisted of Chief Engineer Luke Samba - a Marine engineering and Maritime Technology expert, Josephine Nthia - A Maritime Labour expert and Sabrina Mkare Jefwa ACIarb, a PhD candidate for Environmental Law and member of the Technical Committee on Maritime Law and Policy (AMP-K).
Prof Laila Abubakar began the session by expressing her gratitude to all attendees who took time out of their busy schedules to attend. She remarked on the good fortune of the marine students to have had the opportunity to meet the President of the Association of Maritime Practitioners (AMP-K), and how this provided a platform for the exchange of ideas that could help shape their future careers and contribute to solving the problems in the blue economy.
Captain Suleiman Bakari FAMP-K AFNI ACIArb then took the stage and spoke about the MTP IV of the Kenya Vision 2030, which gives seafarers the responsibility of managing the crew's qualifications and training opportunities. He drew attention to the development of the Kenyan Maritime Education and Training (MET) sub-sector as a key area of focus for the association, with the main objective of supporting the growth of the Kenyan Maritime sector. He encouraged the Technical University of Mombasa mariners to develop ideas and agendas, not only to showcase their dreams and ideas in the Maritime sector but to expect to compete globally.
He concluded by stressing the need for the students to prepare for the massive responsibilities that come with the Maritime industry and emphasized the role of TUM and themselves in positioning Kenya on the world stage. Capt. Suleiman also commended TUM for establishing quality seafarer training and pioneering critical courses for seafarers, especially the Oil, Chemical and Gas Tanker Cargo operations courses. Finally, the TUM marine students were given the opportunity to engage with Captain Suleiman and one of their key suggestions is to be granted sea time training to better equip them for the industry.