By Sarah Baafi
McGill University’s Academic Director of Administration and Governance Unit, Dr. Nadège Firsova, alongside Dr. Rashid Draman, Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), has met with Ghana’s Deputy Clerk of Parliament (Information Management Services), Dr. Gloria Sarku Kumawu, to strengthen institutional collaboration.
The discussions centred on reinforcing the long-standing partnership between McGill and Ghana’s Parliament, with a focus on innovative and sustainable capacity-building initiatives.
The meeting highlighted McGill’s existing parliamentary training programs, which include professional development certificates in governance and management for parliamentary staff and lawmakers, often delivered in partnership with African institutions like ACEPA.
Dr. Gloria Sarku Kumawu, currently serving as Acting Clerk to Parliament, emphasised the importance of leveraging McGill’s expertise in legislative research, anti-corruption frameworks, and oversight mechanisms to strengthen Ghana’s parliamentary operations.
Dr. Rashid Draman, whose work with McGill includes co-authoring case studies on governance challenges in Africa, underscored the potential for joint initiatives in areas such as public financial management, extractive industry oversight, and digital transformation in legislative processes.
The dialogue also explored opportunities for Ghanaian parliamentary staff to participate in McGill’s residency programs and online courses, which have previously involved collaborations with Kenya’s Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Nigeria’s Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies.
This engagement builds on McGill’s decade-long track record of training over 250 parliamentary professionals globally, including tailored training programs for African legislatures. The institutions aim to finalize specific collaboration modalities in the coming months, aligning with Ghana’s parliamentary modernization goals.
