Govt to establish a scientific council - Ayittey

Accra, April 28, GNA - Government will soon put in place a scientific council headed by Vice President John Dramani Mahama to help make the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) a more proactive organization.

Ms. Hanny Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, said there would also be a science and technology foundation set up by the end of this year to provide research scientists with funds with the aim of motivating them to come up with innovative research programmes.

In addition, there will also be "Ghana-Scientific Theme Park", a programme that will encourage people to go to designated places to have a feel of science and technology at work. Ms Ayittey made this known when she paid a working visit to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to have first hand knowledge about their operations and also to share ideas about how the organization could contribute to national development using science and technology as a tool.

"CSIR should be able to help farmers add value to their products, for instance helping orange farmers to produce pectin or jam," she said, advising staff of the Council to be a little sacrificial in their service to the nation.

"I believe that a lot of your researchers have been working for private organizations, you should have a mechanism where part of the income earned from such private programmes is used for the benefit of CSIR as a whole," she said urging them to help increase the internally generated funds.

Ms Ayittey also announced that the Industrial and Scientific Technology (INDUTECH) Fair will also be revived to increase awareness about the contribution of science and technology to national development.

"Government is prepared and committed to support the CSIR but government also expects a return on investment in the sector," she said, and added that a yearly science congress would soon be instituted and would be used as a forum to reward those who distinguished themselves in the area of science and technology.

Ms Ayittey expressed belief that it was only science and technology that would propel the private sector to become the engine of growth. Dr Abdulai Babah Salifu, Director-General of CSIR, announced that this year marked the 50th anniversary of the Council and as part of the celebrations there would be an anniversary lecture. CSIR would also mark the Scientific Renaissance of Africa Day, a Dinner/Awards night and a series of activities throughout the year to create awareness about science and technology as a tool for national development.

Dr Salifu expressed concern about inadequate salary structure that had made a lot of the scientists leave for greener pastures elsewhere comparing their salaries to those of their counterparts in the universities.

He said there was a huge disparity between the salaries of researchers at CSIR and those at the universities. Dr Salifu said the CSIR had not been able to make use of their commercial function as an institution for numerous reasons. He said researchers were not exactly business oriented but the Council should be able to make its own money by arranging with commercial entities to help them market themselves, adding that such an arrangement was in progress.

Dr Salifu said the CSIR had a policy of doing research that was impact-driven and aimed at development of an identified, new or improved product and said their research activities had so far impacted positively on the agricultural sector in the area of livestock and poultry, forestry, crops and fisheries.