Higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi last week directed the newly appointed board members of the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology to finalise the appointment of a substantive CEO without delay.
The NCRST has been without a substantive CEO for nearly three years. For the past two to three years, Kandjii-Murangi said the commission has been struggling to get a CEO to be at the helm of the institution.
However, she reported about two months ago, the outgoing board through vigorous advertisement managed to do the selection of suitable candidates and interviews completed.
“The people went through interviews and the right candidate was identified,” she said.
“Unfortunately, they could not appoint because their terms lapsed. We expect you as soon as you are in office to familiarise yourselves with the process and appoint the CEO. There should be no delay because all that is left is really to appoint the CEO.”
NCRST is a government-owned enterprise that reports administratively to the ministry of higher education. NCRST is the country’s national agency for research, science, technology, and innovation, which was created through the Research, Science and Technology Act of 2004 and is responsible for policy making and funding.
Meanwhile, the commission’s new board was unveiled last week. It includes Jacob Nyambe as chairperson, Teresia Kaulihowa (deputy chairperson), Alisa Amupolo, Marius Mutorwa, Fillemon Nangolo, Titus Kanyanda and Nailoke Mhanda.
The minister reminded the board to ensure there are research capacity-building programmes and a very solid national research agenda in place. According to her, this means they ought to engage relevant ministries that they think will benefit from research.
She singled out the ministry of agriculture as a key area for research development.
“There is this talk about food security in this country. But these are just talks, I should say because we have our green schemes down their knees yet we have people who graduated in the field of agriculture. Some of them are at Master’s degree and PhD levels. If we can only come up with well-targeted research areas to unlock the expertise needed for us to move forward in these important areas,” she noted.
Another crucial aspect she mentioned is the growth at home strategy aimed at economic progression.
She said it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure research areas move towards economic advancement.
Therefore, she said there is a need to create more knowledge and unlock potential through the national research agenda. -anakale@nepc.com.na
Get on… Higher education minister Itah Kandji-Murangi.
Photo: Emmency Nuukala