President Nana Akufo-Addo commends KAIPTC at Sixth Graduation Ceremony
Accra, 20 December, 2017: The President of the Republic of Ghana, and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commended the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) for its great work in developing and increasing the stock of peace and security practitioners and experts critically needed to address the myriad of conflicts and threats facing the continent.
The President was the Special Guest of Honour at KAIPTC’s 2017 joint graduation ceremony for graduates of Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security (MCPS), Master of Arts in Gender, Peace and Security (MGPS), and Executive Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security (EMCPS).
He commended the graduates for successfully completing their programmes and urged them to leverage the wealth of knowledge, insights and skills gained during their period of study to positively impact the continent. He was full of praise for KAIPTC, noting its key achievements like the training of over 17,000 military, police and civilian personnel who are contributing at the continental and global levels to improving human rights and working to ensure peace and stability. He further commended the Centre for working with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Ghana, to complete the first phase of the West-African Disaster Preparedness Initiative (WADPI), which led to the strengthening of the capacities of 14 West African governments to help prevent and manage future pandemics such as the Ebola Virus disease.
He also acknowledged the significant work of KAIPTC’s Women, Peace and Security (WPSI), which trained and deployed a total of 44 participants, predominantly women, as election observers for the December 7 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections held in Ghana, and further empowering 22 South Sudanese women with conflict mediation and resolution skills; he added that, through the Ministry of Finance, WPSI also supported the electoral processes in Liberia.
He pledged government’s support to KAIPTC to complete its Training and Academic block to guarantee additional training opportunities for interested participants, and to meet the demand and increasing subscriptions to its academic programmes.
Mr. Bill Rimmel, Vice Chancellor/Chief Executive of the University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, who was the special Guest speaker, congratulated KAIPTC “for its efforts to increase the understanding of peace and security issues in Africa through its research and policy engagements, and for contributing to knowledge creation that informs best practice in conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa”.
He paid special credit to Dr. Kwesi Aning for initiating the collaboration between KAIPTC and the University of Bedfordshire, and likewise, paid tribute to Brigadier General Kotia, the Deputy Commandant and visiting professor of Peacekeeping at the University of Bedfordshire for his insightful lectures to students of the institution.
Giving the valedictory speech on behalf of her mates, Dr. Zanetor Rawlings, graduate from the Executive Masters Programme, noted that: “we have a duty, by virtue of the training we have been given to contribute towards the dignified and harmonious co-existence of our fellow human beings in an atmosphere of peace, stability, justice and sustainable development. Let us always be agents of truth, righteousness, compassion, empowerment, development, equity, gender balance, and other noble values. Let us do the right thing and defend what is true based on principle even if we don’t share the same ideologies. We must not lose sight of the fact that our ultimate aim is to make Ghana, Africa, Our world a better place for all”.
Special awards of recognition were given to Mr. Ubon Humapwa Udoh, Ms. Linda Yaa Addo Frimpong, and Ms. Nadine Ernestine Jeanne Pauline Merks, who emerged overall best students for the Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security (MCPS), Master of Arts in Gender, Peace and Security (MGPS), and Executive Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security (EMCPS) respectively.
Some Alumni of KAIPTC are the Minister for Communications, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Hon. Naa Torshie Addo, the Administrator for the District Assembly Common Fund, Alhaji Abubakar Boniface Saddique, Minister for Inner Cities and Zongo Development, Mrs. Gifty Ohene Konadu, National Coordinator for the One District One Factory Project.
KAIPTC obtained institutional and programme accreditation in 2011 to offer post-graduate academic programmes in conflict, gender, peace and security, making the Centre the first African peacekeeping training school to run postgraduate courses.
The programmes seek to equip Africans with the highest professional knowledge and standards in conflict prevention, resolution and management, mediation, negotiation, peace brokering and security management to respond to the emerging trends in peace and security on the African continent and beyond.
The programmes are targeted at Security and Intelligence Institutions/Agencies, International and Regional Organizations, Civil/Public Servants, Members of Parliaments/Government, the Judiciary, Members from the Diplomatic Corps and Civil Society/Non-Governmental Organizations in Ghana, Africa and beyond, and individuals with interest in Peace and Security Studies. Alumni of the academic programmes number of 360 from 26 different nations dotted on four continents; Africa, America, Asia and Europe.