Funding challenges, lack or shortage thereof, impede the institutionalisation and development of research e.g., doctoral studies in higher educational institutions (HEIs). In this paper, an appraisal of the state-of-the-art and fallouts arising from the lack of funding for PhD and institutional research in Africa’s HEIs is undertaken, following which the sustainability of existing research funding mechanisms is questioned. Of the fallouts, three issues are prioritised––brain drain, poor research output and depletion of supervisory capacity. In terms of brain drain, it is clear that Africa continues to suffer the loss of its ‘best and brightest brains’ because the research support structure needed to reintegrate or retain them is either weak or non-existent. With the exception of South Africa, a very low research throughput is generally breeding across the region because of unsustainable research funding mechanisms, mainly championed by international funding agencies. Then with a growing number of PhD intakes, the available supervisory capacity is equally being stretched to its limits with no hope in sight, granted that the rate at which the necessary PhD manpower is being produced is non-commensurate. Based on the highlighted fallouts, the overarching redress may lie in the sustainable enterprising and localisation of the huge funding potentials already coming from willing international donors so that it aligns with research problems prioritised by the continent’s political class.
This paper is about the taxation of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies in Malawi. It analyses and expose the reality about the benefits and beneficiaries of customs and excise duty waiver on these technologies. The principal aim for taxation is to raise revenue for the government, local authorities and other similar bodies. Taxes are also used to redistribute wealth whereby higher rates of income tax transfer wealth from the better-off to the state and the latter uses the resources to provide services to everyone. Sometimes, taxes are used to protect local industries from foreign competition. In such cases, the government levies duty on imported goods, which translates into higher prices. As a result of the high prices of the imports, people are forced to buy locally manufactured goods as substitutes. However, this analysis appears to be biased towards the end users of the technologies and completely ignores the suppliers, without whom there would be no solar PV market at all. This paper is therefore aimed at highlighting the shortcomings of this perspective and redefining the benefits and beneficiaries of such exemption.
