By Olimatou Coker
The Management Development Institute (MDI) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to award master’s degrees programme with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (Gimpa) at a ceremony held at MDI.
The tenable postgraduate degree programmes include Master of Public Sector Management (MPSM), Master of Science in Occupational Health and Safety Management (MOSHEM), Master of Arts in Monitoring and Evaluation and Master of Science in Project Management.
The relationship between the two institutions spanned decades and was further strengthened with the signing of a grant agreement between Gimpa and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in September 2005, with the objective of building the capacities of both middle and senior level public sector officials in The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria.
Alhaji Sillah Conateh, MDI spokesman and Gimpa coordinator, said from 2006 to 2017, close to one hundred middle and senior level public sector officials in The Gambia benefited from the award of full scholarships to pursue MPSM at Gimpa. He said even after the end of the ACBF bursary, a number of the country’s public sector officials continued to be sponsored by their institutions to pursue the programme.
“It is gratifying to note that almost all of the beneficiaries are holding very responsible positions in government such as ambassadors, managing directors, director-generals, chief executive officers, general managers, and heads of department. Overall, it was a huge success and has adequately helped to bridge some of the gaps that existed in the public sector. The graduates are shining examples of the modern public sector officials and have injected great innovations in the way and manner that their institutions are managed,” he said.
Alieu Jarju, the director-general of MDI, stated: “The journey that led us to today was daunting, time consuming and involved several trips to Gimpa. The late vice president Badara Joof, who at the time of serving as the minister of higher education, research, science and technology initiated this crucial proposal. He led two delegations to Gimpa with the sole aim of getting these two institutions to collaborate in running the master’s programmes with Gimpa providing mentorship to the MDI until such time that the local capacity is developed to run it on its own.”
DG Jarju said the signing ceremony symbolised the fruition of the efforts of Mr Joof and the current minister of higher education Prof Pierre Gomez to transform MDI into a civil service college with full degree awarding powers.
Emma Mensah, Ghana’s ambassador to Senegal accredited to The Gambia, said: “We want to strengthen this relationship that’s why we are here with such a delegation and not only the training of public and civil servants but also we want to extend to the training of the lecturers because the world is revolving and a lot of new things are coming, so there is a need for them to be also trained”.
Prof Samuel Kwaku Bonsu, rector of Gimpa, said they look forward to a long relationship with the MDI.
