Parliament passes GIMPA Bill

Accra, Nov. 2, GNA - Parliament on Tuesday unanimously passed the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Bill, which will legally consolidate and re-establish it as a public tertiary institution.

The bill is also intended to reflect the policy of government that such institutions should not depend on the consolidated fund but rather should be self-sustaining.

The bill, which is in five parts, seeks to make GIMPA a body corporate under the office of the President and affiliated to the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) with both financial and academic autonomy.

Considering the bill before its passage, Mr James Adusei Sarkodie, chairman of the select committee on education, said GIMPA's reputation within a short time as a world-class centre of excellence for training in leadership, management and public administration is incredible and incomprehensible.

There is the need for substantive Act of Parliament to institutionalise its core and auxiliary functions to the level of a unique University of recent times and this cannot be over emphasised, he said.

The committee, he said, recommended that the institute and the public services commission should detail a training schedule for public servants, to ensure that a percentage quota is given to them notwithstanding the cost of fees being charged by the institute. Also the institute should pay equal attention to technical and vocational organisations, which have become the cornerstone of Ghana's development.

Mr Sarkodie said the passage of the Bill into law would further accelerate the rate of development of the institute and also make it more responsible to the needs of the nation.