The new Council of the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management, Ghana (CIHRM), has been inaugurated by the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu.

The council comprises 11 members including Florence Hutchful (President), Dorothy Asare (Vice President), Dr. Francis Eduku (CEO of the Institute), Dr. Edward Kwapong (Immediate-Past President), Nana Kwabena Yeboah (Executive Member), Dora Siaw-Lartey (Executive Member).

The others are Eric Sewonu Adadevoh (Executive Member), Louise Agyemang-Barning (Executive Member), Anita Andrews Nanfuri (GTEC Representative), Truedy A. Osae (GEA Representative), and Comfort Dede Aki Ashiagbor (Ministry of Education Representative).

At the inauguration ceremony, the sector minister charged the Council to be attentive to three key areas that were of grave concern to the president.

These concerns, he stated, were punctuality, productivity, and workforce size, saying, “HR Managers have allowed mushrooming of numbers in both the Civil and Public Service. When I was the Chairman of the Free Zones Authority, we had only 70 employees, but now I am told the workforce is over 300. I ran NCA with about 98 staff. Today, I am told it has ballooned to 300 employees. We are just adding up numbers instead of downsizing.”

Mr. Iddrisu charged the CIHRM Council to come up with a manpower roadmap for the categories of staff needed in governmental agencies.

Speaking on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, the minister extended warm congratulations to the newly appointed CIHRM Council Members and expressed best wishes as they take on their responsibilities.

In a short address, CIHRM President Florence Hutchful expressed gratitude to the minister on behalf of the new Council and the Institute’s members for setting aside time from his demanding schedule to officially inaugurate the Council.

She stressed the importance of the ministry, saying, “Education remains the cornerstone of national development, and the Institute recognizes the critical role the Ministry of Education plays in shaping policies that impact the future of our country.”

She added that, as the only official body in Ghana responsible for overseeing the human resource (HR) profession, CIHRM said it is dedicated to helping HR professionals gain the right skills and values needed to build a strong workforce and healthy workplaces, all to support the country’s development.

The Institute’s president also welcomed the minister’s call for CIHRM to help tackle issues like low productivity, lateness to work, and figuring out how many workers are really needed in the civil and public service.

CIHRM’s CEO, Dr. Francis Eduku, leveraged the occasion to officially invite the minister to be the keynote speaker at the Institute’s 2025 HR Conference, which will be held on June 18 and 19 at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.