During the third Ndizotheka Eminent Speakers series on the role of Science and technology in economic Transmission, National Planning Commission (NPC) outlined that Malawi needs to develop home based researches for the benefit of national development.

NPC director general Thomas Munthali said the above after noting that Universities and Academic Institutions in the country have been engaged mostly in donor driven research works. “We need to start thinking as researchers on how we could do research which could greatly improve the well being of the country’s economy,” said Munthali.

On the other hand, Vice Chancellor of Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), Prof Address Malata said the country needs to invest in science technology for its development agenda. “We have managed to produce a lot of graduates from our Universities but the country still depends on imported goods. Our challenge has been no production due to limited usage of technology and innovations,” Malata said. 

The call for home based research comes amidst the coronavirus pandemic, which African countries are yet to research on their own on how best to tackle the virus.