Environment Minister visits Atomic Energy Commission

By Christabel Addo, GNA
Accra, March 2, GNA - Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), has paid a working visit to the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).

He called for closer cooperation with the Ministry in finding sustainable solutions to the challenges within the institution, in order to enhance their work, particularly in the area of research and innovation.

Prof. Frimpong Boateng was accompanied by Mr Alex Quainoo, the Director of Finance, MESTI and other Directors of the Ministry as well as Mr Oliver Boakye, a Special Assistant to the Minister.

The Minister said he was already familiar with the numerous challenges confronting the Commission citing the issue of sustainable research funding, the current massive encroachment on their lands, sustainable electricity supply, as very disturbing as these stifle the smooth operation of the institution.

He however commended the staff and management for working hard over the years to keep the Commission on its toes, and also for effectively and safely managing all radioactive sources in the country so that they did not get into wrong hands.

Prof. Frimpong Boateng said government has promised to enhance science and technology, making it part of its improved education priority, and as such would increase research funding from the current 0.25 per cent to 1.0 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, to encourage quality outputs.

He said it was an irony that in spite of the cravings that research institutions including GAEC, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, to go commercial, they were not supported in terms of local funding to do so.

He explained that since most of their funding often came from foreign sponsors, the institutions were obliged to hand over their findings to their benefactors who became the beneficiaries.

The Minister encouraged researcher scientists to develop innovative ways of attracting local funding to expand their work, so that their findings would be owned locally for sustainable development.

On the issue of stable electricity supply, Prof. Frimpong Boateng said he intended to initiate a discussion with the Energy Sector Ministry, to ensure a viable option from the current prepaid billing for sensitive research laboratories across the country, in order to save delicate and historical samples from irreparable damages.

Prof. Frimpong Boateng stated that all was set to inaugurate the Ghana National Space Science Institute at Kuntunse in the Greater Accra Region in May 2017, to provide spatial education, and secure Ghana's cosmic environment among other things.

The success of these and other government projects, he said would require land for expansion, and appealed to traditional authorities as well as district assembles nationwide, to desist from the indiscriminate sale of state reserved lands, leaving no space for future national developments for the benefit of all Ghanaians.

He said research Institutions have lost nearly 80 per cent of their reserved research lands to encroachers, but gave the assurance that the Ministry was currently engaging with the Ministry of the Interior and the Inspector General of Police, to investigate what was happening to salvage the situation, 'hoping there are no forces within to distract the process'.

Prof. Frimpong Boateng also gave the staff the opportunity to voice their concerns, and entertained suggestions on ways in which the overall management and functioning of the Agency could be improved.

Prof. Benjamin Jabez Nyarko, GAEC Director-General, pledged the commitment of management and staff to work harder towards achieving all the objects of the Institution in the years ahead.

GNA