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Research scientists in component institutions of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), have expressed worry over their exclusion in national project implementation, when their professional expertise could be leveraged for cutting-edge solutions to ensure best project outcomes.

       Dr. Emmanuel Obeng Bekoe, President of the CSIR Research Staff Association (CSIR-RSA), speaking at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Ejisu-Abankro in the Ejisu Municipality, also called on government to implement the local content bill to ensure that 60 per cent of materials used for national projects, were developed and procured locally.

      He said it was sad that even on the few occasions where professionals of CSIR were engaged in projects, it was only for the initial stages, but were left out during implementation, while they could have been worthy front liners.

      “The CSIR-RSA had all the critical expertise-technological and scientific know-how across its constituent institutions, to bring to bear on projects such as the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), One District One Factory (1D1F) and the Country’s ongoing wrestle with illegal mining,” he added.

      Dr. Bekoe said the PFJ, for example, should have been actively championed by the CSIR since most of the crop varieties and agronomic packages were products or technologies from the CSIR.

       “Additionally, the CSIR, could also play very important roles in the industrialization of Ghana through 1D1F initiative as institutions such as Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Food Research Institute and Industrial Research Institute were specialists in the development of raw materials needed for the proposed factories,” he stressed.

       The Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), he advocated, should be engaged to undertake infrastructure auditing of government funded projects and develop standardized construction costs for these projects.

      Dr. Bekoe therefore entreated government to make good its promise to allocate one per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as research fund, saying that such facility could provide a great funding opportunity for research scientists to generate excellent research technologies.

      “Catalyzing Economic Development through Scientific Innovations”, was the theme chosen for the event.