Science and research institutions urged to lead advocacy for effective policies

Science and research institutions have been advised to take charge and lead in advocacy for effective national policies, and not to leave the education space for non-scientists to fill the void with falsehood.

Mr Emmanuel Marfo, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, said the lack of appreciation of science and research posed a huge challenge to progress and breakthroughs, citing for instance, the backlash that the current COVID-19 vaccine development had received globally because it was swiftly achieved.

He said it was important for these institutions to break down the scientific language into very simple and comprehensible forms to provide clearer understanding for all persons, particularly politicians, who were the major decision-makers of government funding to support their activities.

Mr Marfo, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Oforikrom Constituency in the Ashanti region, gave the advice when Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology paid a working visit to the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) in Accra, to assess the performance of the institution.

He said the assessment would among others look at their activities in terms of environmental compliance and safety regulations, and further afford them the opportunity to learn about the operations, on-going research, and the challenges confronting the Commission, so that the Members could make meaningful contributions on the floor of the House when confronted with issues related to GAEC’s establishment.

The Members were welcomed by Professor Dickson Adomako, the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

Mr Marfo explained that the visit formed part of the Committee’s mandate to exercise oversight responsibility over the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and its Agencies, and also deals with all questions relating to the sector, including research and development.

He encouraged the Commission to do more to enhance its visibility, saying that although it does a lot of groundbreaking research and other activities that were basic and already in the public domain, unfortunately, knowledge about these efforts related to GAEC was limited most importantly among politicians who were the major decision makers.

He stressed that the challenges of limited funding support being experienced by GAEC and other similar institutions were, therefore, as a results of the misunderstanding of the critical roles that science and research played in the socio-economic and health development of the nation, hence the need to step up advocacy for improved collaboration for financing.

“If the public is enlightened, the issues become simple for the government to come in and support,” he said.

Prof. Adomako called for funding support to enable the Commission to sustain the development and promotion of the peaceful application of nuclear, biotechnology, and other related technologies for socio-economic development through research, training and commercialization, and also provide advice to government on related legislation and policies.

He said GAEC envisioned to become the leading organization contributing to sustainable national prosperity through the effective application of nuclear, biotechnology and other related technologies.

He stated that since its establishment by an Act of Parliament, Act 204 of 1963, and subsequent amendment in 1993 by the PNDC Law 308 primarily to allow for the establishment of other institutes, GAEC had remained a major player in Ghana’s scientific ecosystems.

This was because nuclear science and technology was one-of-a-kind technology with numerous societal benefits and had the potential to solve a wide range of societal issues including nine out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, he said

He said the Commission had been conducting researches and other activities under the various institutions and Centres, which included the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Institute (BNARI), the National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI), Radiation Protection Institute (RPI), Radiation Technology Centre (RTC), the Reactor Centre (RC), National Radioactive Waste Management Centre (NRWMC), and the Digital Electronic and Nuclear Instrumentation Centre.

GAEC also houses the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) affiliated to the University of Ghana, the National Space Science Centre, and a Commercialisation and Communication Directorate to make the Commission proactive, and also runs Basic school and a hospital to cater for the population in its catchment area and beyond.

He mentioned some achievements of the Commission as the provision of technical support to Ghana’s Nuclear Power Programme, which was in its second phase of implementation to generate electricity to boost industrialization and improve the country’s socio-economic development.

It successfully converted the spent nuclear reactor core fuel from a Highly Enriched Uranium, to Low Uranium core to aid research and development, which was the first kind to be executed in Africa, and boosted Ghana image in the international arena.

The Deputy Director-General also cited the conversion of the 32-metre redundant telecommunication antenna at Kuntunse in Accra, into a radio telescope for the Ghana-Astronomy Observatory, for research, monitoring and protecting the environment against illegal mining, deforestation, and collecting climate information on drought indicators, pollution monitoring, crop-yield estimation, among others as major breakthroughs.

Others included GAEC’s contribution to pest and insect management in agricultural, medical and veterinary practice through the use of Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) to eliminate sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis,) and also the use of a radiation processing technology to prevent agricultural produce from post-harvest losses and extend their shelf lives, and for sterilization of medical devices.

He said the Commission also ensured constant public safety by monitoring mobile phone base stations (telecommunication masts), and collecting and transporting disused radioactive sources from industries for safekeeping.