By Patience Longwe

Lilongwe, June 24, Mana:  The Secretary for Higher Education, Dr.Levis Eneya, has said that Malawi is making steady progress towards becoming a country that depends on knowledge, science, and innovation to grow its economy.

He made the remarks on Tuesday at a meeting of the National Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Technical Working Group, held at the Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.

According to Eneya, Science, technology, and innovation are key tools for Malawi’s development and can help transform the country for the better.

He also added that the country’s ST policy, which was approved in 2002, laid the foundation and helped in the establishment of important institutions like the National Commission for Science and Technology (NSCT) and the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST)

“However, the time has come to review it to incorporate innovation and industrialization, leading to improved lives for our people

Our success should not be judged by how many policies we make or how many reports we write, but by how many lives we improve. I encourage everyone to focus on ideas and innovations that make a real difference in people’s lives, not just paperwork”, he said.

He also said, the Ministry of Higher Education is committed to making sure that everyone benefits from scientific progress, stressing the need to combine indigenous knowledge with modern science to achieve fair development for all Malawians.

“Malawi 2063 aims to make a middle-income country by the year 2063, science and technology will play a big role in creating Jobs, building industries, and growing the economy”, he said.

He commended international organisations for their ongoing support, especially the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the NCST, for helping to push forward Malawi’s science and innovation goals.

In her remarks, the UNDP Resident Representative, Ms. Fenella Frost, emphasized that Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) are not merely enablers of progress but serve as the driving force behind transformative change.