Workers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have challenged the government to demonstrate its readiness for the “golden age of business” by attending to “the hen that lays the golden eggs.”
Their apprehensions are based on the fact that twelve months after the retirement of the last Chief Executive of the Council their governing council has not been able to appoint a substantive Director-General.
For now, they claim they can only look on as their fate and that of scientific and industrial research in the country is shuffled in the fashion of what they term “musical chairs or trinity,” saying it is a huge dent on the claim of the NPP government to have the men.
The troubled workers explained that even though the CSIR is the only legitimate body mandated to search and develop scientific knowledge and expertise in the country, no effort is being made to give them a leader as the directors of the Council keep rotating the position among themselves. (the past 12 months has seen three deputy directors acting as the capo)
The Governing council, which is in charge of recruiting and appointing a capable hand to fill the vacancy, has for the past one year never been able to meet to address the issue. The stakeholder community attributes this unfortunate situation to the excessive travels undertaken by members of the council outside the country.
The three Deputy Directors of the CSIR, Professors Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Owusu Bennoah and Ayensu have since January rotated the position amongst themselves resulting in unnecessary bureaucracy and poor management. The first acting DG was in office from January to March, while the second acted from April to June and the third from September to November. At the beginning of this month (December), the process began again.
But this is just a tip of the iceberg considering the motley of problems facing the Council which can derail all the efforts the country could make towards making science and technology the fulcrum of our development.
Network Herald investigations suggested that tension is mounting among members of the Research Staff Association of the Council who have threatened to withdraw their services by the 6th of January next year if government fails to pay their outstanding arrears of a 15 percent parity increase and a 12.1percent back pay from May 2001 to date.
Also in contention is the 400 dollars increment in book allowance, which their counterparts in the universities are already enjoying. The most profound issue to them however, is the vacuum that was created ever since the technology sector was moved from the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology to the Ministry of Communication and subsequent attempts to cede the Institute of Industrial Research to the same ministry.
The Council has affiliations with 13 major research institutions.
