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MP Calls For Increment In Taxes To Fund Research

By MyJoyOnline
General News MP Calls For Increment In Taxes To Fund Research
OCT 18, 2017 LISTEN

Chairman of Parliament’s Government Assurances Committee, Yaw Addo Frimpong, is advocating increment in taxes to raise funds that will be dedicated to science and technology research.

He also wants portions of money from the oil sector as well as the common fund set aside solely for research purposes. According to the MP, that is the sure way to accelerate Ghana’s development.

“Let’s look at oil and gas. Let’s set some money aside for science and technology innovation. Then we should set aside some amount from the common fund. Specifically for research. And then the third one being VAT.

Let’s put some small percentage on VAT and dedicate those taxes specifically for research,” Mr. Frimpong Addo told Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo at a conference on science and innovation in Uganda.

He says it is time Ghana took a lot more interest in research, particularly within the Agric sector, noting it is the only way the nation can catch up with other developed countries.

“We should take research science and technology very seriously. If we are not able to resource our research scientists adequately, the rest of Africa will leave Ghana behind. And this one is required for all sectors. Beginning with Agric research,” he noted.

The high-level conference on the application of science, technology, and innovation in harnessing African agricultural transformation was organized by the Uganda’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

Despite recommendations by the African Union that nations invest at least 1 percent of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in research annually to speed up development, Ghana currently spends only about 0.2 to 0.5 percent.

Former Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture Dr. Ahmed Alhassan Yakubu who participated in the conference noted that government resources for science and technology research is limited and it is about time alternatives sources of funding are pursued.

He called for a narrowing of the gap between research communities and industries so that companies can fund the research activities.

“The foundation of every nation is research. And so everybody has to recognize that if you don’t put a portion of your earnings into that foundation, it will come to catch up with you,” Dr. Yakubu noted.

He says it is terrifying for Ghana that majority of its research is funded from donor sources. “We need to fund research from our own national resources before we can make it big.

"We spend a lot of money sending young people out for training. Then they come back and the research system is letting them down. It shouldn’t be so,” he said.

Contributing to the conversation, Member of Parliament for Kintampo North and member of the Food and Agric Committee of Parliament Kwasi Etu Bonde advocated for the passage of the Plant Breeders’ Bill as a sure way to raise resources to fund research.

The bill which the previous parliament could not pass before its tenure expired has the objective of ensuring plant breeders earn royalties on the varieties they produce.

“If scientific research is not commercialized, how can we get sustainability in terms of funding? That is why our plant breeders’ bill should be passed. So that we may not depend solely on donor funding. Then there can be an internally generated fund for research,” he noted.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com

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