The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), the national School of Administration of Burundi, to forge a partnership for knowledge sharing, among other things, between the two institutions.

The Rector of GIMPA, Prof. Samuel Kwaku Bonsu, and the Director General of ENA, Prof. Jean de Dieu Ndikumana, initialled for their respective institution.

With them were the Deputy Rector of GIMPA, Prof. Ebenezer Adaku, and the Director of Programmes at ENA, Prof. Desire Louis Nizigiyimana.

Mentor

At the ceremony to formalise the cooperation in Accra last Wednesday, Prof. Bonsu said he was glad the institution could serve as a mentor to a sister institution on the continent, coming on the back of its 65 years of experience.

He said that although there had been a few ups and downs, it had survived well over the years.

As part of the strategic plan of GIMPA, he said it had an initiative known as “GIMPA at Africa”, with the idea that, as part of the 65th anniversary, many institutions across the country and continent were younger and thus wanted to share their experience with them.

That, he said, was with the hope of encouraging the institutions to grow and "hopefully become like us.

"Sometimes, it is an expensive venture, but we are willing to contribute to the continent that way," he said.

Arrangement

So, he said, the MoU was the beginning of such an arrangement by becoming a mentor to ENA, a development institute in Burundi.

"We have that experience of over 65 years and we hope to be able to support them to build and grow," he said.

He said it was not just about skills sharing but developing the basis on which they stood.

Prof. Bonsu said both institutions would learn from each other, in spite of the age difference, indicating that the relationship was supposed to be mutual.

For his part, Prof. Ndikumana thanked GIMPA for the partnership, saying that it was an opportunity for the institution.

He said the MoU was the first time ENA was going outside its region to partner with an institution from an English-speaking country.

Prof. Ndikumana said Ghana was known in Africa as an organised country, with Pan-African ideas, since the days of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

"So, for us, that's a pleasure to have this cooperation with the country that is admired by Africans.

So we are here to learn, you have more experience than Burundi," he said.

In his welcome remarks, Prof. Adaku said the initiative was the implementation of a strategic plan for GIMPA.

"We are very happy to have you today, to collaborate with us and also to achieve our strategic objective and with a resolve to go far, it needs to go along with its collaborators," he said.

"Africa can really be developed by Africans.

The Caucasians or the Europeans or the Americans would never come and develop Africa for us. Africa must be developed by itself," he said.