Dr. Stephen Adei, the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has been sued by Mr. Egbert Faibille. Jnr, Ghanaian Observer newspaper's Editor-In-Chief at the Fast Track High Court, Accra. Also joined to the suit which was filed Tuesday at 10:40 a.m. with number AP. 55/2007 as 2nd and 3rd Defendants respectively are the governing council of GIMPA and GIMPA itself, all of whom have been sued jointly and severally with Dr. Adei. In a writ filed on his behalf by Kwame Aduabeng Yankyera of SIMRAN Chambers, Accra Mr. Faibille is seeking the following reliefs: a) A declaration that by virtue of the provisions of ACT 676 and the Conditions of Service of the Rector of GIMPA, the 1st Defendant has exhausted the stipulated tenure as Rector/Director General of GIMPA and cannot continue to hold himself out to the public as such. b) A declaration that by virtue of the provisions of the ACT 676 and any consequential statutes, bye-laws and conventions thereof it is fraudulent for the Defendant to hold himself out at GIMPA and to the public as a Professor of Leadership at GIMPA. c) An order perpetually restraining the 1st Defendant from holding himself or being held out by the 2nd Defendant as a Professor of Leadership at GIMPA. d) An Order directed at the 2nd Defendant to declare the ( position of Rector of GIMPA vacant and take the necessary steps to appoint a substantive Rector of GIMPA. e) Costs, including lawyer's fees. In a 31-paragraph Statement of Claim accompanying the writ Mr. Faibille. Jnr claims as follows: 1. The Plaintiff is a citizen of Ghana and brings this action in that capacity seeking to enforce the provisions of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Act, 2004 (Act 676) by the application of its relevant provisions and all consequential statutes, bye-laws and conventions arising thereof. 2. The 1st Defendant purports to be the Rector of GIMPA, a public tertiary institution and has been holding himself out to the public, academia and the international community as such; which fact is published on the World Wide Web on various links on the Internet. 3. The 2nd Defendant is a body established by the GIMPA Act, 2006 (ACT 676) to among other responsibilities appoint lecturers and any other persons to academic and administrative positions at GIMPA and thus has the responsibility of appointing the Rector of GIMPA. 4. The Plaintiff says the enabling law of GIMPA provides that, the institute that the 1st Defendant holds himself out as duly appointed Rector of and a Professor at; operates under the Office of the President of the Republic and is affiliated to the National Council for Tertiary Education. 5. The Plaintiff says the 1st Defendant has knowingly held himself out as an academic of the rank of professor at GIMPA; thereby causing the public, including the Office of the President of the Republic and the international community to deal with him as such. 6. The Plaintiff says the 1st Defendant was appointed the Director General of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration under the repealed Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration Law, 1993 (PNDCL 318) sometime In October, 1999. 7. At the time the 1st Defendant was appointed the Director General of GIMPA, the conditions of service for the position applicable at the institute provided that the appointment of a Director General of GIMPA should last for a term of five (5) academic years, subject to renewal for two years only. 8. The Plaintiff says by this requirement for the tenure of a Director General of GIMPA, the 1st Defendant's tenure should have ended at the end of the 2003/4 academic year. 9. Contrary to the provision that the 1st Defendant's tenure as Director General of GIMPA was for five (5) academic years and subject to renewal for two academic years only; the 1st Defendant has continued to be in office as head of GIMPA to date without a contract. 10. The 2nd Defendant did not renew the Defendant's contract as Director General/Rector of GIMPA at the expiration of his initial five year contract. 11. The Plaintiff avers that granted that the 2nd Defendant had even extended the 1st Defendant's contract at expiration of the five year tenure given at the end of the 2003/2004 academic year; by two academic years; the 1st Defendant would have ended his extended tenure as Rector of GIMPA at the end of the 2005/2006 academic year. 12. The Plaintiff further avers that the continuous stay in office as Rector of GIMPA by the 1st Defendant with the tacit acquiescence of the 2nd Defendant is unlawful and a flagrant abuse of the GIMPA Act, (ACT 676) and its consequent statutes, bye-laws and conventions. 13. All regulations, statutes or any other instruments that were made under PNDCL 318 and in force immediately before the coming into force of the GIMPA Act (ACT 676) were saved. 14. The Plaintiff says the position of Director General of GIMPA was re-designated Rector of GIMPA by the GTMPA Act, (ACT 676); which was gazetted on the 12th day of November, 2004. 15. At the time the 2nd Defendant was inaugurated under ACT 676, the 1st Defendant had spent the mandatory five (5) academic years and had already started out into the permissible two year renewal of his tenure; though his contract had not been renewed as stipulated by GIMPA's Conditions of Service for the Director General in force at the time of his appointment in October, 1999. 16. The Plaintiff says when the 1st Defendant was engaged as Director General of GIMPA in 1999, his academic title in addition to his name was Dr. Stephen Adei; which fact is captured in all minutes of the GIMPA Council and its management meetings. 17. The 2nd Defendant has since the expiration of the tenure of the 1st Defendant as Rector of GIMPA failed, neglected and refused to advertise, interview, select and appoint a new Rector of GIMPA as demanded by GIMPA's statutes. 18. The Plaintiff says when the 1st Defendant was engaged as Director General of GIMPA in 1999, his academic title in addition to his name was Dr. Stephen Adei; which fact is captured in all minutes of the GIMPA Council and its management meetings. 19. The Plaintiff says by a publication in the July 5, 2002 edition of the Daily Graphic, which was at the instance of the 1st Defendant, he announced that he had been appointed Professor of Leadership of Africa by the Zimbabwe-based Africa Leadership and Management Academy. 20. The Plaintiff says by that date, various publications in the media started referring to the 1st Defendant as Professor Stephen Adei, whilst he signed various intra-GIMPA memoranda and outgoing correspondence from GIMPA as a professor. 21. The Plaintiff says the 1st Defendant fraudulently issued a draft memorandum to his subordinates in his office announcing his purported correct and proper designation and title at GIMPA, which included the title and designation 'Professor' when he knew that he is not entitled to such a title at GIMPA. 22. The Plaintiff says the 1st Defendant holds himself out as a professor at GIMPA to the whole world, which fact is evidenced at the official website of GIMPA on the world wide web. 23. The Plaintiff says by a document titled GIMPA's Law and Statutes under the repealed PNDC Law 318, which was in force at the time the Defendant caused his purported appointment as Professor of Leadership to be announced in the media and to the whole world and actually held himself out to the world as such, and which is still in force at GIMPA, the 1st Defendant does not satisfy GIMPA's conditions precedent to the use of the title 'Professor,' whether Associate or Full Professor. 24. The Plaintiff says the light and proper action the 1st Defendant should have taken if he desired to use the title and designation of 'Professor' was to have submitted his appointment as Professor of Leadership of Africa to the appropriate body for ratification and subsequent dispensation to use the title of Professor at GIMPA. 25. The Plaintiff says the 1st Defendant has neglected, refused and failed to submit his appointment as Professor of Leadership of Africa to the appointing authority at GIMPA for ratification and dispensation to hold himself out to the unsuspecting students, staff, faculty and the whole world as a professor at GIMPA. 26. The Plaintiff says the 1st Defendant has fraudulently held himself out as a Professor of Leadership at GIMPA when he knows or ought to know that he is not entitled to the use of the title Professor. PARTICULARS OF FRAUD a) Issuing of a draft memorandum in which the 1st Defendant directed a subordinate to publish a notice for the attention of all units and staff of GIMPA to the effect that his proper, fit and correct designation and title is Professor Stephen Adei; when he knew he had no legal authority to use such a title at GIMPA. b) Causing a publication in the media to the effect that he is a Professor, knowing that he had not satisfied GIMPA's conditions for promotion to the rank of professor. c) Causing the publication of a brochure entitled GIMPA MAIDEN CONGREGATION PROGRAMME in which he held himself out as a Professor; alongside the publication of his picture; when he knew he is not a professor at GIMPA. d) Induced by and acting in reliance of his 1st Defendant's representations that he is a professor at GIMPA, the President of the Republic of Ghana did refer to him in a citation accompanying a state award to him in July, 2007. 27. The 2nd Defendant by their actions and inaction have permitted the 1st Defendant to continue in office illegally as Rector of GIMPA and also to hold himself out as a professor of Leadership at GIMPA when they have not appointed him to such a position or ratified any such appointment by any tertiary institution in favour of the 1st Defendant. 28. Unless restrained from so doing the 1st Defendant intends and is continuing to fraudulently hold himself out to the unsuspecting public and the whole world that he is a Professor of Leadership at GIMPA and also the Rector of the Institute. 29. Unless ordered by this honourable Court, the 2nd Defendant will not take the necessary steps to declare vacant the position of Rector of GIMPA vacant and take steps to appoint a new substantive head of that institution. 30. Unless ordered by this honourable Court, the 2nd Defendant will continuously by its actions and inaction permit the 1st Defendant to continuously hold himself out as a Professor at GIMPA. 31. WHERREFORE the Plaintiff claims against the 1st and 2nd Defendants respectively jointly and severally: A bailiff of the Fast Track High Court on Tuesday served the process on GIMPA and the governing council of GIMPA. Source: Ghanaian Observer