GIMPA COUNCIL MEMBER TESTIFIES IN COURT

THE Executive Chairman of the State Enterprises Commission (SEC), Mr Francis Kofi Ocran, has told an Accra Fast Track High Court that the Governing Council of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) asked the Rector, Dr Stephen Adei, not to use the title professor because it was not recognised by the institute.
“At GIMPA, you do not bring any title like professor and start using it. Any such title will have to be presented to the council to examine its authenticity in order to accept it or not,” he said, and pointed out that in the case of Dr Adei, the GIMPA Council examined it and took a decision that he should not use it.
Mr Ocran, who is also a member of the GIMPA Governing Council, said this when he testified in the case in which Mr Egbert Isaac Faibille Jnr is seeking an order from the Fast Track High Court to restrain the GIMPA Rector from holding himself out as a professor of the institute.
Mr Faibille wants the court to order that Dr Adei is not a professor, either at GIMPA or any other institution, and should, therefore, be restrained from holding himself out as such.
He further wants the court to order GIMPA to advertise the position of rector, since it was vacant because, according to him, since the tenure of office of Dr Adei expired on October 1, 2004, he had not been re-appointed as rector.
The witness said he was aware that Dr Adei had a professorial title and recalled that at one of the council’s meetings, the issue came up after Dr Adei had informed the meeting of his title, which was conferred on him by the African Leadership and Management Academy based in Zimbabwe.
Mr Ocran said Dr Adei was initially appointed as the Director-General of GIMPA for four years, adding that after the expiration of his tenure, his appointment was extended until Dr Adei reached his retiring age.
He said the issue of extending Dr Adei’s tenure was discussed by the council, during which the chairman and the secretary were given the responsibility to see to it that a letter was written, but that was not done.
During cross-examination by counsel for Dr Adei, the witness admitted that Dr Adei was not appointed to an academic position at GIMPA but as the chief executive officer.
According to him, since GIMPA was an academic institution, all positions were related to academic qualifications which were reviewed during appointments, saying that by convention and the minutes of the Governing Council, the staff of the institute had to apply for the re-evaluation of those titles, taking into account their qualifications.
However, in an answer to a question that a council member, Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, and others had their “professor” titles conferred on them and yet they were not vetted before they became GIMPA Council members, the witness replied that that situation was different from Dr Adei’s case.
Mr Ocran said it was the right of the shareholder to appoint those it considered qualified to be board members, saying that position was different from somebody in functional management and in the case of Dr Adei he indicated that apart from being the Rector, he also lectured at GIMPA.
He said in all the council meetings that he attended, Dr Adei was addressed as “professor”.
Meanwhile, the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, has appeared before the court to testify in the case. He referred to a publication in the July 5, 2002 edition of the paper in which it was reported that Dr Adei had been appointed professor.
Mr Tetteh said he did not know the source of the story and was of the view that documents like what was used to publish the story could emanate from authentic sources.
He said the Daily Graphic was a responsible paper and would not publish any falsehood or misleading information.