By Stephen V. Lansana
The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and the Sierra Leone Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), one of the three constitute colleges of University of Sierra Leone (USL), have on Saturday, February 10, 2024, held a dinner with the stakeholders of the two institutions and the alumni members of GIMPA and the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), at the New Brookfields Hostel in Freetown.
The programme was well attended by senior university authorities of the two institutions, including Sierra Leonean alumni of the GIMPA and YALI.
In his opening remarks, the Assistant Deputy Vice Chancellor of IPAM, Dr. Mohamed Sheriff disclosed that they had an opportunity to engage GIMPA at IPAM campus, and that session was a follow up of that engagement which would fully strengthen their network.
“I and GIMPA have had a very long relationship which have been very fruitful,” he said, noting that they are delighted to welcome GIMPA and strengthen that relationship.
He said that they are particularly pleased because over the years they have benefited a lot from GIMPA’s graduates both in their administrative and academic cadre. “We have outstanding number of staff who acquired knowledge and skills from GIMPA for which we are extremely grateful,” he said, adding that Sierra Leoneans have benefited a lot from the programmes offered by GIMPA.
He disclosed that both IPAM and GIMPA should leverage the skill pool that they have, noting that there is so much for quality and success that they need to leverage. He added that people of expertise could come together through technologies to build the nations.
He said that the YALI programme for young people is a very exciting programme which has helped several young people in Sierra Leone.
In his speech, the GIMPA Rector, Prof. Samuel Kwaku Bonsu said about a decade ago, he was asked by GIMPA to come to IPAM to serve GIMPA in the interest of IPAM.
He said that the event on Friday was to rekindle their relationship, strengthen existing ones, and create new friends of GIMPA.
He disclosed that Ghana and Sierra Leone have been friends for a long time, adding that education is the sector that Ghana wants to be impacting Sierra Leone. He noted that over the last few days, they have met several people in Sierra Leone who told them that they attended schools and colleges in Ghana, including those who studied at GIMPA.
“These men and women are the exemplary of the cooperation between GIMPA and IPAM,” he said. “As an alumni of GIMPA, you are bound together. You are united by the spirit of resilient, academic excellence and a shared vision to create position impact to the World.”
He pointed out when he referred to the alumni of GIMPA, he is referring to those who have gone through the institute and those who have gone through YALI as an extension of GIMPA.
He disclosed that on Friday, February 9, they held a fruitful conversation with IPAM, noting that at the end of the conversation, they hoped that IPAM will become a central point for GIMPA in Sierra Leone, including identifying marginalised communities for YALI, coordinating GIMPA’s engagement with the public sector in Sierra Leone, and working with GIMPA to maintain their interest in Sierra Leone.
He said that they are seeking to establish a joint programme and to provide relevant resources for mentoring each other’s faculties and serve the Sierra Leonean community.
He said that they have established a working group to plan the details of these arrangements by March this year, noting that the Working Group will provide the basis of discussion towards the implementation of these ideas starting in September this year.
He said that GIMPA is just 63 years old.
He disclosed that in March 2022, GIMPA launched an endowment fund to mobilize resources to bring the most vulnerable people into the classroom.
He called on all alumni in Sierra Leone to come together and support this initiative.
He added they are seeking to integrate the YALI alumni into the GIMPA alumni so that young people will be able to play a vital role in society.
Some alumni members of YALI did a wonderful presentation on the impact of their lives and how their innovations have helped the communities. The event was climax with the sharing of GIMPA’s souvenir.