Linda Nordling, journalist specialised in African science policy, education and development, has just published an article on SciDev.Net concerning the recent decision of the Government of Uganda to finance the science and technology sector with its own funds, without renewing the Millennium Science Initiative (MSI) loan with the World Bank. The Initiative, dating form 2007 and amounting at US$33 millions, supports 22 research projects training more than 3660 scientists and engineers.

The desire to take direct financial and management control of science is an increasingly common refrain on the African continent: many countries are keen to expand their domestic science budgets, even if, due to the poor public finances situation, this desire has not turned into concrete actions yet (most Sub-Saharan African countries spend an average of just 0.3 per cent of their GDP on science and technology), writes the journalist.

However, despite evidence of African nationalism, few have gone as far as Uganda in turning down offers of foreign assistance: the recent oil finds in the country has spurred the government’s belief that it can afford to spend more on science. Even if this is potentially a positive initiative, it could be a real treaty for the science sector, which could rapidly decline unless the whole government strongly supports the commitment undertaken. In Linda Nordling’s opinion, to reassure Uganda’s scientists the government should, at first, “renew a portion of the MSI agreement, just in case the national funding fails to materialise”.

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