43 Top Scientists Quit CSIR

Forty-three top level scientists of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have since this year, resigned their positions. This is due to lack of funds to support their research activities. Most of them have joined the bandwagon to seek greener pastures outside the country.

Dr A.D. Agyei, president of the Research Staff Association (RSA) of the CSIR, revealed these at the 14th annual general meeting of the association in Accra on Thursday. The meeting had the theme: “The role of the CSIR in sustainable private-sector development in the Golden Age of Business.” It brought together scientists and researchers from the 13-member Institutes of the Council in the country.

Dr Agyei said for instance, the country had lost one of the key architects who developed the quality protein maize varieties to Ethiopia which had contracted him to assist in the development of similar maize varieties. He said the brain-drain syndrome at the CSIR was so high and called for government intervention due to the crucial role the CSIR played in the socio-economic development of the country.

Dr Agyei said it was unfortunate that Ghana was looking to Malaysia for expertise in the utilization of oil palm for industrial purposes creating the impression that Ghanaian scientist had been sleeping all these years. He explained that the CSIR members had provided expertise in oil palm production projects in Indonesia, Malaysia and several other countries, indicating that Ghanaian scientists were among the best in the world. The RSA president said it was through Ghanaian scientists that the Cocoa Research Institute made Ghana to become the largest Cocoa producer of the world.

The CSIR, Dr Agyei noted, was the leading technological institution in the country capable of providing the necessary back-up to the private-sector for industrial growth. “We want to say that government needs to show commitment to the work of scientists in Ghana” he stressed. He suggested that to ensure the nation’s industrial take-off, the government should facilitate the adoption and utilization of locally generated technologies by granting loans to companies that had adopted local technology.

Dr Paa Kwasi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, in an address, said the government’s drive for poverty reduction was on course. He said measures were being adopted and pursued that would raise the country’s per capita income from 350 dollars to 1000 dollars by 2010. Dr Nduom announced that under the policy, the government would establish one small agro-based industry in each region within the next five years.

The Minister said the government recognized the importance of scientific knowledge to the country’s development and urged them to make suggestions to the National Development Planning Commission (UDPC) for the country’s development. The Minister of Environment and Science, Professor Dominic Fobih, commended the scientists of the CSIR for their works and urged them to make research findings available especially to the private sector to enable it to forge ahead. He stressed the need for active co-operation between the CSIR and the private-sector in finding solutions to the problems that militate against the country’s development.

Science and Technology to get adequate funding

Accra (Greater Accra) 25 October 2002 - The government on Thursday said efforts are being made to increase resources allocated to the development of science and technology to one per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as specified by the Lagos Plan of Action, a 1980 blueprint for Africa's development.

Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Environment and Science said the draft proposal is before Parliament and would soon been approved.

Currently, Ghana's GDP allocation to science and technology development fluctuates between 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent, he said, at the 43 annual general meeting of Research Staff Association (RSA) of the Council For Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

It was under the theme, "The role of CSIR in sustainable private sector development in the Golden Age of Business." Prof Fobih said the success of government's poverty reduction and wealth creation programme depends largely on investment in and development of science and technology.

Despite government limitation to fund science and technology development, the Minister said, it has set in motion plans to bring to fruition the National Science and Technology Research Fund.

Prof. Fobih urged the CSIR to place itself in a strategic position in order to attract funds from the private sector to support and develop its activities. He said with constant interaction with the private sector the CSIR would find the right partnership to realise its research goals.

Prof. Fobih challenged the CSIR to submit proposals for the installation of biogas systems, which have become reliable and sustainable source of energy. The minister said it is the duty of Ghanaian scientists to counter criticisms levelled against them that they were shelving important results and not interacting with the public.

"The RSA must come out to counteract these impressions through active promotion of the adoption and utilisation of their research findings and interaction with the public, particularly the industrialists..."

Presenting the Ghana Poverty Reduction programme and the National Visions document, Dr Paa Kwasi Ndoum Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Cooperation called on the scientists to study them and come out with their inputs. He said improvement in the total economic environment and sustainability of the macro economic stability must be a matter for all sectors of the economy.

Professor E. Owusu-Bonoah, Acting Director General of CSIR, noted that the Council has designed a proactive strategy to ensure that technologies it has developed permeate all segments of society. He said one of such strategies is the CSIR/Ghana Television Programme, "Technology for Livelihood."