GIMPA Rector, Prof. Samuel Kwaku Bonsu
Ceditalk has learned that Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Admistration, Prof. Samuel Kwaku Bonsu, is meeting with authorities at the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission Thursday over some urgent matters concerning the university. GIMPA has been in the news recently following our report of an attempt by university management led by Prof Bonsu to frustrate doctoral candidates of the Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration, Governance and Leadership programme at the School of Public Service and Governance where several students have not been able to graduate most of whom have been in the programme for over a decade due to an arbitrary decision to alter the structure of the programme in the year 2021 when the rector took office. The introduction of the new structure has put the doctoral students in limbo resulting in some of them to drop out of the programme.
According to multiple sources at GIMPA, the Prof. Bonsu-led administration has introduced a culture where dissenting views about his handling of the school including those on the said doctoral programme are silenced creating a fear of victimisation amongst faculty and staff. The once revered reputation of GIMPA as a ‘centre of excellence’ is gravely under threat owing to the troubling events happening in the school under Prof. Bonsu. The sources believe that the summoning of the rector by the tertiary education regulator today may stem from the “dissatisfaction and disappointment with the behavior of the Rector” shown by GTEC during a routine visit to the academic institution earlier this year however other matters would be discussed at the meeting. The GTEC team embarked on an institutional visit to GIMPA between 28th April and 2nd May, 2025 but the rector did not attend explaining that he had been called to a meeting by the Asantehene, a source told Ceditalk. Such routine visits take place once every five years, therefore the GTEC team wondered why the rector would renege on his duty of attending a mandatory meeting with GTEC for another event unrelated to the Institute outside the campus.
It will be recalled that doctoral students of the Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration, Governance and Leadership programme petitioned GIMPA Governing Council over the challenges faced with the programme which have impeded their plans of graduating after several years enrolled in the programmed. The council as at Wednesday, October 1 received said petition and formed a subcommittee to investigate the matter and due for report in two weeks from the day it was tasked with the matter. We are closely monitoring the situation for further development and to update our readers accordingly.
This development is both a relief and a profound indictment. The summoning of the GIMPA Rector by GTEC confirms what students and concerned citizens have known for years: the leadership of a premier national institution is in crisis.
The allegations are no longer mere allegations; they are now the subject of scrutiny by the highest regulatory body. The Rector’s reported failure to attend a mandatory GTEC institutional visit—a once-in-five-year event—to instead attend another event, speaks volumes about his priorities and his regard for national educational standards. This is not just ‘disappointing behaviour’; it is a dereliction of duty.
While we acknowledge the GIMPA Governing Council’s sub-committee, its two-week timeline must be just the beginning, not the end. The scope of this rot—the silencing of dissent, the victimization of staff, and the academic and financial ruin of PhD candidates—demands more than an internal review.
This moment calls for a full-scale, public-facing investigation whose findings are made transparent. We now look to GTEC and the Ministry of Education to exercise their full authority to restore integrity, protect academic futures, and salvage the revered reputation of GIMPA from the brink of collapse. The time for accountability is now.