Government ignores GIMPA – Rector
The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) on Saturday held its 13th Congregation in Accra, during which degrees were conferred on graduants from undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
Professor Franklyn Acheampong Manu, GIMPA Rector appealed to government to stopped discriminating against the Institution when providing support to public tertiary institutions.
He said: “Government continues to ignore GIMPA when providing support to tertiary institutions. This continuing discrimination against GIMPA is something we have taken up with the relevant authorities and we look forward to the day that we will not be penalised for being successful.”
He pointed out that for the 2013/14 academic year GIMPA enrolled 1,762 students in undergraduate degree programmes.
Prof Manu said without any support from government, GIMPA had been able to admit 528 day-time under graduate students, thus helping to alleviate the challenge of the two streams of graduates of senior high schools that wanted admissions into the universities.
He said: “ In furtherance of our goals of making major contributions to national human resource development, the Institution would be introducing the following degree programmes: PhD in Business Administration, PhD in Leadership, PhD in Law, Joint Executive Masters Business Administration-Master of Laws (LLM), International Executive Masters Business Administration and LLM.
“We will also be entering into partnership with the Centre for Economic Policy Analysis and the Private Enterprise Federation to establish stronger relationship which will include giving them a physical presence on the Greenhill Campus.
“GIMPA will be setting up a Centre for Law and Governance which will work closely with the Judiciary, Parliament, Civil Societies and Political Parties to enhance the quality of management in our public sectors.
“A Liberal Arts College will be set up which will provide a strong foundation for all degree programmes. This is important to improve the communication, analytical and critical thinking skills of graduates,” the Rector said.
Prof Manu said GIMPA is beginning the process of establishing an Honours College; adding that students who are good enough to get into this college would pay no fees.
“The…initiative will require that GIMPA recruits high calibre staff and offer enhanced compensation packages,” he said.
Prof Manu said GIMPA proposes to initiate projects in the coming year such as Accra City Campus to host evening undergraduate programmes to ease the pressure on facilities at the Greenhill Campus, a new building for the Business School on the Greenhill Campus, a Cafeteria that would provide for better delivery of quality services and the first phase of the jubilee library.
The Rector announced that Dr Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria, has fully redeemed his pledge of raising $1 million towards the construction of the proposed Jubilee Library.
He said despite major challenges; GIMPA had opened three satellite campuses in Kumasi, Takoradi and Tema.
He said as a result of rapidly increasing enrolments and their desire to offer quality instruction, GIMPA had engaged in a major recruitment exercise that has resulted in a top notch faculty.
Prof Manu said the goal of the school is to have at least 80 per cent of the faculty teaching in degree programmes to have doctorates or be professionally qualified.
Dr Christina Amoako-Nuama, Chairman of GIMPA Governing Council, said the Institution encourages its graduates to meet challenges of leadership not only in Ghana but globally.
Professor Justice S. K. Date-Bah, a retired Supreme Court Judge, who was the guest of honour, urged government to ensure that within the next five years, it adopts a policy framework that prioritises research, innovation and skills development to address the problem of graduate employability.
Source: GNA
At a time when everybody knows that government is saddled with impossibly high wage bills and struggling to fund development agenda, it is surprising – in fact deeply disappointing — to read of GIMPA asking for support from government. What happened to the entrepreneurial spirit at GIMPA? The arrangement over a decade ago under previous leadership of GIMPA, as I understand it, was that GIMPA would be allowed to charge market rate fees and expand programs beyond its original core – Civil / Public Service Training. For some years now GIMPA has succeeded in expanding programs, increasing fees, and going well beyond its physical confines in Greenhill to multiple locations in Ghana (in addition to occasional programs for international clients). GIMPA can and should remain financially independent of Government funds. It has been praised and cited as a case study for other governmental agencies far and near.
The Irony is that GIMPA has already demonstrated in multiple ways that it can generate the revenues it needs in a variety of ways (and have more than enough to pay BONUSES to staff, under whatever names they call such extras) without going to beg government for more help. GIMPA could in fact be paying annual rent and property tax to government for the prime real estate (land, buildings, other facilities that it inherited from government before the transformation) it has, and for additional acquisitions of the same.
Instead of succumbing to the Ghanaian institutional malaise of becoming beggarly, GIMPA should continue to model what many other governmental organization should do: to be a little more entrepreneurial with the resources (land, buildings, facilities, staff, and market space, etc.) that they have been, and quickly wean themselves off government funding (and eventually subsidize government through royalty / rent / other payments and in-kind services.
Along the lines I argued above, and in the spirit of freeing up more national revenues for development, below is the gist of a previous submission that I made elsewhere as a ‘quick and dirty’ starting point for cutting down the Ghana Government wage bill:
Remove all the following governmental organizations from Government funding of payroll, and subventions, and implement this within 6 months in order to give them impetus to be entrepreneurial:
1. All tertiary Business School schools and polytechnics: Business Schools / Departments of All Public Universities (University of Ghana, Legon; KNUST, Kumasi; University of Cape Coast; The entire University of Professional Studies, etc.). Note: They charge enough fees, and have enough demand for enrollment, and run loads of ‘extra’ programs to make it on their own without a penny from government. Many Of Them Have Been Paying Rich Bonuses To Staff And Faculty Each Year (Or Even Each Semester In At Least One Case) From Bounty of Fat Fees They Charge. Besides, they should really practice what they preach: entrepreneurship, marketing, business, etc.! If GIMPA can survive and THRIVE as a mostly market-rate, fee-charging institution with limited or no government funding of salaries (after a being transformed from a fully- subvented dependent organization), then most public sector university/polytechnic business schools, and other select departments, can. Get them off the government payroll within six (6) months. They will ‘miraculously’ survive, and even thrive.
2. All staff and faculty of Public Universities and Colleges that run Extension Courses, Sandwich courses, Distance Learning Courses, Modular course, Summer / Vacation course, etc.. This includes all / most of University of Cape Coast Departments, lots of University of Ghana departments, and the same for KNUST. These additional programs are raking in loads of money – enough to make ‘millionaires’ of some staff who have been collecting multiples of their regular pay from extra teaching on these programs. Get them off the government payroll within six (6) months. They will ‘miraculously’ survive, and even thrive.
3. All governmental agencies making significantly more Internally Generated Funds and fees than their payroll budgets. There are lots of these. This approach should rake in a surprisingly large number of government agencies. The fact is that they are already making from multiple IGFs, fees and charges, significantly more money than they need for salaries. Why should we have to pay them salaries when they keep adding all manner of allowances, stipends and perks to these salaries, under the radar, from these IGFs, fees, and charges? Get them off the government payroll within six (6) months. They will ‘miraculously’ survive, and even thrive.
4. All state owned enterprises that are supposed to generate revenues but have not been doing well. Get them off the government payroll within six (6) months. They will ‘miraculously’ survive, and even thrive.
5. Any governmental agencies with potential to be financially independent. Give them six months to be ready; It will yield surprisingly creative and fast solutions to any lethargy and slovenly ways they have had in the past. Get them off the government payroll within six (6) months. They will ‘miraculously’ survive, and even thrive.
ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR CUTTING THE WAGE BILL.
A. In addition, start a quick (maximum of 90-day) study to reveal ways to make divisions or all of the big money-sucking sectors become partially self- sustaining ((target 50%): education, health, etc. Pay an incentive to any heads of department who can produce a feasible and balanced plan to get them off the government payroll within six (6) months. You will be amazed how entrepreneurial people get when they have an incentive. They will ‘miraculously’ survive, and even thrive.
B. Invite ideas (with a small incentive for winning ideas) for how to rapidly wean off other sections of government from the wage bill.
C. Stop the often tediously long and wasteful debates on whether to wean off agencies. Anyone who has anything serious to say, let them write and submit them. Move quickly to how to do so and enable agencies to get ready for the ultimate.
D. Target to make 30% of current government workforce contingent workers: temporary, part time, seasonal employees,
E. Farm out / outsource to the private sector a target of 50% of non-core government services, with obligation by the acquiring private sector organization to CONSIDER current workers where they are deemed QUALIFIED AND NECESSARY. This should include such services as DVLA, ALL Catering / Canteen and Food Services, Custodial / Cleaning / Maintenance Services, Repair and Replacements Services, Transportation Services, Traffic control, security, etc., Land title registration and related services. Many of these are already creative in how to make money for private pockets. They can be creative without making us pay multiples of the official fees into private pockets. Any private agency not doing their work well, or taking bribes to do them, should be replaced (together with their staff. The staff may apply again to a winning agency and compete with others eager and motivated to work).
F. Let our favorite Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) pay all salaries from fees it generates, like the large number of competitors it now has. It has more resources than any other single broadcasting organization.
G. More suggestions to come…..(perhaps)… feel free to add your own.
Ataa Kwashi