Stress, pressure, long working hours, workers without contracts and a large number of resignations are complaints that have been heard repeatedly in the past year from Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
A situation which, as the months passed, was also accompanied by questions about the appropriateness of calls such as “Youth in Science for Peace”Appointments made to close people Minister Yesenia Supreme The portfolio’s ability to achieve its mission objectives amidst this state of instability.
These are the facts that will now confront the Minister in the debate on political control in the Congress of the Republic convened by the Representative Jennifer Pedraza. The appointment was canceled last week, but, as the congresswoman announced through X, will resume after Easter.
“We already have a date for political control: April 3. Let us be responsible!” declared Pedraza, who explained in an interview with El Tiempo that this recall was motivated by issues such as the low budget that the portfolio had led to State general budget 2024, And mismanagement, as, according to the MP in the House of Representatives, the Supreme Minister was forced to obtain more resources for the portfolio.
“In principle, it seemed to me unbelievable that someone coming from the science and technology sector would oppose an increase in the Ministry of Science. It is difficult to find a minister who would not fight for his own portfolio budget and more.” “Taking into account the needs of science and technology today,” details Pedraza, who promoted a proposal in the middle of the PGN discussions so that Mencensias would not suffer from the cuts, an initiative that did not have the support of the Supreme Minister.
“Later the workers who were victims contacted us Harassment in the workplace And even the workers who contacted us about an issue Merit reward (The bonus responds first to merit, but it even represents almost 50 percent of the income of some of them who are already in their pre-pension years, so it will have implications for it),” the congresswoman explains.
Low enforcement of property rights
As reported by El Tiempo, among the issues of concern in the science portfolio is the low level of implementation of royalty funds, one of the sources of resources for science championed by the Supreme as an alternative to the precarious allocations that have been made. BGN.
Although this response – which was also on the lips of those who preceded Alia in office – has never convinced scholars, who see limitations in this system, such as invitations to convocations that, in their bureaucracy, make access to resources difficult and the instability of long processes, no It remains one of the main sources that fuel research in the country thanks to the fact that Public royalties system Allocates 10 percent of current income to CTeI.
In this way, 2.9 trillion pesos (net 2.6 trillion) were approved in the biennium 2023-2024, for science, one of the highest allocations in history. However, of this money, only P130,000 million was spent last year, according to data from the central bank. National Planning Department (DNB), This represents only five percent of the total to be allocated to science, technology and innovation projects in the country during these two years, and is the lowest figure ever in the implementation of CTeI equity in the past five years.
“We came for review and only 4.6 percent of the science and technology resources, which expire in December this year, have been implemented. “In other words, there is not even an implementation of the resources with which the minister justifies that there is no need for an increase in the budget of the Ministry of Science,” says the representative in the chamber. , Jennifer Pedraza, whose team led the review and the minister's senior administration is leading the review, which is expected to confirm in the coming weeks when the political control debate will be called in Congress.
This means that Minciencias has only nine months to implement more than 90 percent of its equity resources, more than 2 billion pesos. Funds that, if not allocated, are at risk of being backlogged or lost.
Science Editing
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