According to him, corruption holds the highest percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most African economies, adding that if such issues are not tackled development would continue to be a mirage for most Africans.

[contextly_sidebar id=”mgEu2hRHCFltcHw4KGvQXKKC76nWBret”]“No nation develops with the level of corruption that we have in our part of the world. In Africa corruption accounts for about 40 to 75 percent of the GDP; that means the corruption industry is the biggest industry in Africa,” he said at Citi FM’s Innovation Summit held on Saturday.

Prof. Boateng, who was speaking on the topic “Creating Our Future”, also used the opportunity to call on the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to increase the 0.025 percentage of GDP allocated to research in the Ghana to one percent.

He said more resources will help address the country’s challenges.

“To do the things that we want to do in research, we need money and as at now, the money that is given for research is just about 0.025 percent of our GDP. And that is not enough to pay the scientists much more to undertake research.The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that he will start by devoting one percent of GDP into research and that is a very good news indeed. And he put me at the ministry to do things for him; I’m serving at his pleasure. So I will remind him all the time of his promise to enable me function as a scientist and a doctor in that respect,” he added.

Ghana might’ve lost over GHC 40 billion through corruption

Ghana according to Financial Analyst, Sydney Casley Hayford. might have lost about GHc40 billion over the years through corruption.

Mr. Casley-Hayford indicated that, a “mid time calculation starting from 2008 to 2014 estimated that about 45 to 50 billion cedis had been taken by individuals [from the state].”

A number of corruption scandals have been recorded in the country in recent years which involved public officials and private companies benefiting from state monies for less or no work done.

Some of these scandals include the monies lost to Subah Info Solutions deal, the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the GHc3.6 million bus branding saga.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Africa has biggest ‘corruption industry’ – Prof. Frimpong appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, more is needed in the government’s quest in addressing the country’s challenges through research and innovation.

[contextly_sidebar id=”mmm1UxRocF2WDNaLSv2x5uxsbrfLbgwd”]“To do the things that we want to do in research, we need money and as at now, the money that is given for research is just about 0.025 percent of our GDP. And that is not enough to pay the scientist much more to undertake research.”

Speaking at Citi FM’s Innovation Summit on Saturday, Prof. Frimpong Boateng also called on the President to fulfill his promise of assigning one percent of GDP to his sector.

“…The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that he will start by devoting one percent of GDP into research and that is very good news indeed. And he put me at the ministry to do things for him; I’m serving at his pleasure. So I will remind him all the time of his promise to enable me function as a scientist and a doctor in that respect,” he added.

Prof. Frimpong also noted that when his ministry is allocated with enough resources then “we can serve all the research institutions in Ghana and make sure that we have the funds to do what we want to do.”

Meanwhile, some participants at the Innovation Summit were not happy for the 0.025 percent allocation to research describing it as paltry.

According to them, even the one percent the President promised is also too small charging government to increase it to encourage more people to undertake research and innovation.

The theme for the 2017 edition is “Creating Our Future”.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Prof. Frimpong laments 0.025% GDP allocation for research appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said formalin was being used particularly to preserve “koobi,” dried tilapia, and that was a recipe to cause cancer in people when consumed.

Formalin in fish would make it stiff, have rubbery meat, hard scales, red gills, clear eyes, and take away it “fishy smell.” “This chemical, is usually used to stop dead bodies from rotting, he said.

“This chemical, is usually used to stop dead bodies from rotting,” Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said.

Formalin is a colourless strong-smelling chemical substance usually used in the textiles, plastics, papers, paint, and construction industries as well as a well-known chemical used to preserve human corpse.

Speaking to journalists during a working visit to the Food Research Institute (FRI) and the Industrial Research Institute (IRR) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Friday [February 24, 2016], Prof Frimpong-Boateng said, “hitherto, opening the gills of Koobi exposed the salt placed there. Koobi was a little softer and when you put it somewhere flies will be attracted to it. These days you put koobi there and even flies will not go there”.

“So we want the few people who are destroying that industry to stop. Don’t preserve koobi with formalin, it is dangerous, it can cause cancer and it is dangerous everywhere, he said.

“Tell the traders to stop using formalin but instead use salt to preserve koobi”, Prof Frimpong-Boateng said.

The visit was part of his familiarisation tour to various research institutions under CSIR that play a strategic role in developing scientific research that would feed industry and propel economic growth.

Prof Frimpong-Boateng together with Dr Victor Agyeman, Director-General of CSIR interacted with the staff of the two institutes and urged them to work hard and come out with scientific research programmes that would help boost industry, agriculture and education.

The Minister assured the staff of government’s commitment to resource the research centres with funds as it prepared to increase research fund from 0.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the nation’s budget.

He also commended the staff at the Food Research Institute for the various products they had come up with but urged them to work to link up with industry to take up the innovation and sell them.

He however expressed regret at the level of deterioration at the Institute of Industrial Research despite the fact that there were scientists ready to work but were faced with obsolete equipment and tools.

“I think we as a people have failed the CSIR, which was created to play a critical role in building the economy “the Minister noted.

–
Source: GNA

The post Stop poisoning ‘koobi’ – Prof Frimpong-Boateng urges fish mongers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Prof. Boateng, who also served as the Chief Executive Officer for the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, said he only heard about the termination of his appointment on radio.

Speaking at the Appointments Committee at his vetting on Thursday, Prof. Boateng said “I spent a year there [PURC] and it was a very good time for me to know about the challenges facing the utility services and how things can be done very well. But unfortunately when my party lost power, I was dismissed on radio.”

The minister nominee lamented that although he felt that he wasn’t treated fairly, he went back to Korle Bu.

“I’m not a lawyer, but at the time it wasn’t right because I chairman of a commission cannot just be dismissed on radio; but I didn’t want to pick up any quarrel so I just went home and went back to Korle Bu to operate on my hearts.”

Click below for the video:

–

By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post NDC fired me on radio – Prof. Frimpong Boateng [Video] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.