…Festus Matey grabs leadership excellence awards
The Law Students’ Association (LSA) of Gimpa Law Faculty has ended the academic year with the Annual LSA Dinner and Awards Night, held last Saturday at Roomy Room in Accra. On the night, 42 out-going LLB students were honoured in various fields, including academic excellence, meritorious services, and popular votes awards.
The apex of the Award Night was the award for the Leadership Excellence which was to recognise the Law student who had shown outstanding leadership skills and made significant contributions to the Law Students’ Association or other student organisations. Festus Matey, a level 300 Law student and formerly elected President of the GIMPA Law Students’ Association, took home the Leadership Excellence Award.
Festus Matey was recognised by his peers for his enormous contribution and consistent leadership during his time at GIMPA. Under his leadership as the President of the association, he introduced a Law Tutorial and Mentoring Programme for all Law students, seen as the most impactful intervention by the LSA.
He was very influential in the introduction of a shuttle bus system for the day-stream in partnership with Kabaka Hostel, a hostel he introduced to GIMPA students. Mr. Matey also led the advocacy campaign against a car-parking fee which was being introduced by the school, but halted due to students’ protest. He was influential in building a strong bond among his class group through social activities and other advocacy initiatives.
Speaking to the media after the ceremony, Festus Matey expressed his appreciation to Gimpa Law students for giving him the opportunity to serve. “They gave me the opportunity to serve. They gave me the space to speak. They gave me the room to develop and impact. They stood by me in crises and we still led from behind. Leadership is indeed not a title,” he added. Festus’ leadership as the LSA President was interfered by the Dean of the Law Students.
According to Mr. Matey, the LSA, under his leadership would have witnessed a lot more development, considering the plans the LSA executives had. “We had plans to raise the needed funding to kick-start an LSA building complex, of which the Rector had given us his nod to support the initiative with a land allocation.
We were also eager to assist to renovate the reading room and classrooms and name each class in honour of prominent judges who have significantly contributed to develop the law we know today. Nonetheless, I am still committed to the development of the GIMPA Law Faculty and as now an alumnus, I will do my best to build a strong alumni association to support the LSA and the faculty,” Mr. Matey concluded.
Other awardees of the night included Fred Amese, who was adjudged the Best Orator; the Most Influential Student went to Joseph Adjei Darkwah; and Elfreda Nunoo Nartey, adjudged the Moot Court/Debate Champion. Grace Lutterodt, the elected LSA Secretary was adjudged the Most Influential and Leadership Excellence for the day school category. For the academic awards, Dr. John Appah swept three awards as the best student in Contract Law, Tort Law and Immovable Property Law. Tracy Syreeta Palm was recognised as the Best Student in Ghana Legal System, Elfreda Quartey adjudged the Best Student in Constitutional Law, and Abigail Kpabitey adjudged the Best in Criminal Law. Janelle Owusu of the Day School swept all the academic awards for the Day School Category.
Present at the dinner were Prof. Martin Morgan Tuuli, Deputy Rector of GIMPA; Dr. Toni Aubynn – Former CEO of Chamber of Mines; Dr. Justice Sai – Law Lecturer and Legal Practitioner; Lom Ahlijah – Law Lecturer and Legal Practitioner; Maxwell Kudekor – Co-chair of the LSA IMC; and Joshua Frimpong – Co-chair of the LSA IMC.
Profile of Festus Matey
Festus holds a first degree in Psychology from University of Ghana and an Executive MBA in HR from the same university. He also holds Masters in Development Communication from the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ). He is an accredited member (APR) of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana.
He commenced his career at ProCredit Savings and Loans as Workforce Management Officer, following a successful national service duty in the HR Department. He subsequently joined Stanbic Bank Human Resource Department as Shared Service Officer.
He joined Republic Bank as Manager, HR Strategy and Performance Management. During his time in HR in 2014, he led a project that redefined job roles in the bank, developed new job descriptions and a job evaluation project which accelerated the bank’s adoption of a new salary structure. He also led HR systems review a project that developed a strategic roadmap for the HR Department.
Following the successful mandatory takeover of HFC Bank by Republic Bank in 2015, Festus Matey was appointed by the then Managing Director, Robert Le Hunte, to coordinate and lead a Culture Revitalisation team (CRT). The charter of the team fundamentally was to find innovative and effective means of incorporating the new Core Values of the bank into the daily lives of staff. The outputs and efforts of the CRT team contributed to the bank’s recognition at the HR Star Awards in 2017 as the Most Successful Change Management Programme.
After a successful CRT work, Festus Matey was then appointed as the Corporate Communications Manager of the bank. He has been very instrumental in the successful rebranding of the bank from HFC Bank to Republic Bank in 2018, and also in growing the Republic brand as a household name in Ghana. He is currently the Manager, Legal Registration and Insurance of Republic Bank.
