GIMPA Mgt Steps In To Prevent Alleged Sale Of SRC Presidency For Ghc50,000
The Management of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has notified the outgoing Students Representative Council (SRC) of the school to cancel an election that had been organized to select a new President even though students are on holiday.
A letter dated July 3, 2020 and addressed to the outgoing SRC President, Benjamin Ansah, warned that an attempt to elect a new President at time when GIMPA’s school calendar shows that it is on vacation makes the election illegal and his actions prosecutable.
“It is in the light that all activities of the SRC must be carried out within the rules and policies of the Institute. Thus, where the academic calendar as revised indicated that the 2019/2020 second semester ended on the 22nd of June, 2020, the SRC cannot purport to be holding any activity including elections after this period. The validity of any activity undertaken outside the academic calendar has legal implications. The SRC constitution foresees such a situation and has made ample provision for the handing over of the affairs of the SRC to an interim management committee,” the letter said.
It was signed by Julius Atikpui, Secretary of the GIMPA.
While the letter does not make a direct reference to an attempt by the outgoing GIMPA President to sell the Presidency, it is all over campus that the embattled president Ansah, by the hurried election was trying to pass on the Presidency for Ghc50,000.
According to multiple sources, the person to whom the GIMPA Presidency was being sold is one Kenneth Koomson. Earlier, Benjamin Ansah had allegedly aimed to sell the Presidency to the former SRC Public Relations Officer, Prince Owusu-Agyapong, who resigned to contest, however, the asking price was too steep for Mr. Agyapong, hence the bid falling to Koomson, who had the cash power.
As a free and fair election was likely not to end in favor of the outgoing President’s anointed one, Benjamin Ansah therefore timed the election to come off at a time that students would be on holidays.
Allegedly, a handful of students who were in the know of the plan to pass the GIMPA SRC Presidency to Koomson, threatened to cause his arrest if he goes ahead. The SRC’s Electoral Commissioner, Eddie Cudjoe, who was allegedly also in the conspiracy, stayed behind to oversee the sham election.
However, the school’s Management was informed by people who knew about the deal, and it stepped in with the letter even after the EC Chairman had illegally concluded aptitude tests for the candidate.
According to the allegations, the move to sell GIMPA’s Presidency to Koomson by Benjamin Ansah, follows a practice at the Institute where a corrupt few juggle the Presidency among themselves like an heirloom.
Benjamin Ansah himself is said to have become GIMPA President this way, by allegedly paying for it from his predecessor, Joseph Osei Mensah, who knows the corners of the institute due to his duties as a cleaner. Mr. Mensah, is said to have similarly organized a dubious election where only a few of the students voted to create the calculated succession.
Mr. Kwasi Asare, a student of the school has detailed the plot in an open letter to GIMPA students that has gone viral on social media.
Benjamin Ansah’s phone has been off and so the media could not reach him to speak to the allegations.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Ansah have been evicted from the accommodation he occupies on campus, and, information indicates that he is lodging with a friend at Nungua.
Source: News Desk
