Minister blames poverty on low level of scientific innovation

Sep 24, 2009

THE state minister for planning, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, has said limited knowledge of scientific innovation is responsible for poverty, unemployment and low development in the country.

By Moses Nampala

THE state minister for planning, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, has said limited knowledge of scientific innovation is responsible for poverty, unemployment and low development in the country.

He said Uganda is endowed with natural resources that can be raw materials for making marketable items.

“Lack of a defined science and technological research has seen a huge deposit of natural resources wasting away as poverty continues to haunt the community,” Kamuntu said.

He was speaking at the launch of the 2009 national science week celebrations at the Lions Club ground in Tororo district.

The minister excited the audience when he disclosed that the latest innovation had identified the value of banana fibres.

“When enzymes are mixed with the fibre, threads for making clothes are obtained,” Kamuntu said as he exhibited the different stages the fibre undergoes before a cloth is made.

He revealed that the Government, under the Millennium Initiative project, is committed to strengthening the scientific and technological capability to meet the country’s development needs.

Kamuntu said the five-year project, funded by the Government and World Bank, will be implemented by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.

The minister said money will be allocated to facilitate research for new scientific ideas that may improve the economy.

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