Some 1,300 students of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration who stand the risk of deferring their programs over their inability to pay their fees on time have petitioned President Akufo-Addo to intervene to enable their management reconsider their stands.

According to the students, their inability to pay the fees on time were mostly due to reasons beyond their control.

“We are a group of about 1,300 students of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (hereinafter called the Institute) across all the Faculties and Schools of the various campuses and we wish to humbly appeal to the Governing Council of the Institute to prevail on the Academic Board and the Management of the Institute to reconsider their decision not to allow students that defaulted in meeting the 13th March, 2019 deadline for payment and registration for the semester an opportunity to do so.

“Some of the reasons accounting to our inability to meet the said deadline includes: serious personal challenges in mobilizing the funds in time; some students on scholarships including the Student Loan scheme did not have their semester releases in time to afford them the opportunity to pay. Others had to pay into one of the designated Banks for school but it took not less than five working days to reflect,” the petition said.

It added: "Most of us had since completed payment of the full fees for the semester and had on individual basis petitioned variously the respective Deans and other stakeholders of the Institute stating our individual peculiar situations and requesting for an opportunity to register all of which had not been heeded to by management of the Institute.

We are by a copy of this petition drawing the attention of His Excellency Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo Addo, the President of the Republic of Ghana to our plight, most importantly knowing that the Institute is directly under the Office of the President. We are accordingly so guided by Section 1(4) of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration Act, 2004 (ACT 676). The provision reads as follows “the Institute shall operate under the Office of the President and shall be affiliated to the National Council for Tertiary Education”.