‘Good Governance Forum’ will bring in transformation: Dr Feleke

‘‘We have been trying to establish the culture of good governance; it was part of our annual plan that is formulated by the Ministry of Education and based on that AMU has developed its own. But, it didn’t yield desired results so we came up with the idea to form good governance forum,’’ informed the AMU President., Dr Feleke Woldeyes. Dr Feleke was speaking in the wake of forming Arba Minch University Good Governance Forum in a meeting held on 1st March, 2014, at Arba Minch College of Teachers Training at Sikela.
He further said, being aware of its importance for the country’s development, which has been pursued for the last 10 years and from time to time we have been addressing the issue but for no avail.
After intense deliberation, AMU has established Arba Minch University Good Governance Forum that will soon have sub-units at campus level involving students, academic and admin staff. It’s a monitoring and controlling mechanism to solve the issues. Since the students are the primary stakeholders issues will be brought to the administration and immediate action will be taken.
The Institutional Transformation Directorate’s Director while heading the Forum will remain accountable to AMU President. The Forum will have quarterly meeting that will form the platform to discuss the issues and problems.
It has 546 members of which three fourth are students. From each department, 10 students have been selected, President, Deans, Directors, Department heads, administrative unit heads make 546. The duration of the committee is indefinite.
The Forum has nine-member executive committee, in which two are automatically elected. Institutional Transformation Directorate’s director will again head this panel while IQE Director will be secretary; each campus is presented by one student.
This Executive Committee is like a standing committee that will report through Institutional Transformation Office to AMU President. The President will have the final say in solving the grievances picked by the campus-level committee.
‘‘People are extremely happy and they want to get involved; I hope to work strongly with the people that would certainly usher in satisfaction for all stakeholders,’’ Dr Feleke stressed.
Presenting the plan part of Good Governance, Mr Abiot, said, ‘‘Good Governance has its own indicators like transparency, participatory policy management, rule of law etc. We got alerted when discovered huge trust-deficit between teacher-student, customers and employees.
Anti-Corruption Directorate Director, Mr Mahe Bodda Kao, elaborating the importance of good governance, said, ‘‘As per UNDP, Good Governance is the combination of elements such as rule of law, efficiency, effectiveness, participation, fairness, accountability, responsiveness, transparency, common understanding and consensus-based work culture.’’
He cited the unprecedented examples of two African countries, Zimbabwe and Botswana, where the presence and lack of good governance determined their ultimate fate respectively.
Leaders should be committed, accountable, must take decision in a participatory manner; give importance to good governance tools such as Balance Score Card (BSC), Kaizan etc. They must empower sub-ordinates and honor their promises, he said.
Likewise workers should be responsive in serving their clients, upgrade their knowledge, be open to accept new technology and reach up to the expected standard.
The meeting facilitated by Corporate Communication Directorate was largely attended by all Vice Presidents, Deans, Directors, support and admin staff and students alike.
By Philips Joseph