The Ghana Research Fund Bill, 2019 has been laid and read for the first time on the floor of Parliament.
The purpose of the Bill is to establish a Ghana National Research Fund to provide for funds, to support national research in tertiary and research institutions, and to provide for the management of the Fund and for related matters.
The Explanatory Memorandum on the Bill indicated that the objective of the Fund is to provide financial resources to support, promote and publicise research, technology generation and innovation in the tertiary and research institutions.
The Ghana Research Fund Bill, 2019 also focuses on the evaluation of the status and needs of research development to align with national and international aspirations.
The Bill further provides for the application of monies for purposes of the promotion and support of research in the area of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and information and communication technology.
It will again ensure the promotion and support for technology transfer and innovation, economics and social science research, research in creative arts, research into language and literature policy.
The sources of money for the Fund include seed money from the government, monies derived from investments made by the Fund, one percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) approved by Parliament, donations, grants, gifts and other voluntary contributions to the Fund and monies that accrue from the Endowment Fund created by the Fund.
The Ghana Research Fund Bill, 2019, is made up of 36 Clauses and a First Schedule, containing the eight various tertiary and research institutions.
These are the public universities including specialised degree-awarding institutions, private universities, technical universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), public health research institutions and the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS).
The Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, presented the Chartered Institute of Marketing Bill, 2019 on behalf of the Minister for Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, subsequently referred the Bill to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education for consideration and report.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
