Anne Mugisa and Patrick Jaramogi
21 September 2008
Kampala — The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been criticised for stopping Africa from investing in basic research, which is essential for development.
The South Africa-based regional director of the International Council for Science, Prof. Sospeter Muhongo, said Uganda and Africa have remained underdeveloped because of the absence of basic research.
He said the Asian countries, which were at the same development levels with Africa in the 1970s, resisted the World Bank and developed. He cited China, India and South Korea.
Muhongo was speaking during the Science Week Conference at the Serena Hotel in Kampala. He said in the 1980s, the World Bank and IMF insisted that Africa did not need to invest in basic research.
The two world bodies claimed that basic research already existed and all Africa needed was to transfer the technology.
"Transfer is al right, but when things fail, we must go back to that mathematician to know the reason things have failed," Muhongo said. "Now Africa is being affected by disasters which we cannot solve because they can only be solved by quality science."
Muhongo urged African countries to devote resources to research to get out of the underdevelopment rut. He advised that Africa needs to develop technology for increased food production and use of less water and labour.
Meanwhile, at the same conference Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi said one of the main challenges to development of science and technology in Uganda was inadequate finance. This was contained in a speech read by general duties minister Adolf Mwesige.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
