The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation has called upon the government of Uganda to increase funding of STI in all universities across the country as a move to increase regional productivity acceleration programs.
The ministry called for more funding while presenting its progress in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Manifesto and strategic guidelines during the NRM Manifesto week on November 26, 2024, at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala.
Cosmas Mwikirize, the Superintendent of Industrial Value Chain Development at STI, revealed that although the government has been funding majority of universities, most of the funding has been injected into Makerere University, which gets around UGX 30 billion annually. He, therefore, called for funds to be injected into all public universities to help in technological innovations.
“Government should increase funding in STI for universities across the country to push for regional productivity acceleration programs to benefit all regions. For instance, the Bingwa (3-in-1) trike used for water pumping was made in Kitgum and is now in a process of mass production and sales,” he said.
He added that the STI is pushing for Ugandan products to reach “a mature brand level to move from competitiveness to maturity,” stating that this will ensure more value addition to Ugandan products globally.
“We want to build an economic system in which production and services are based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific innovations,” Twikirize noted.
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Dr. Samuel Okodi, an STI representative, weighed in on the issue of garbage management in the country, noting that it is a problem that is being solved by the ministry.
“We have come up with innovations of using waste for generating energy, which will be functional soon. We have also come up with a system of separating biodegradable waste for fertilizers,” he stated.
The Ministry called upon Ugandans to recognize the special role it plays in developing the nation by adopting processes and policies and to fund the Ministry in a more predictive, sustainable, and protective way to achieve its goals.
