Four sue to block GIMPA rector search process, denigrate GIMPA with rented press

Four Professors who describe themselves as members of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) community, together with their accomplices, the Council Chair, Prof. Yaw Agyemang Badu and a member of the Council, have resorted to destabilising the peace and tranquillity at GIMPA.

The four Professors have filed a frivolous action in Court seeking to stop the Chairman of the Institute’s governing council, the Secretary of the Institute and the Rector of GIMPA from carrying out the selection of the members of the search committee towards the appointment of a new Rector for the Institute in 2027.

The four professors, Lord Mawuko Yevugah, Wisdom Akpalu, Kwami Adanu and Patrick Tandoh-Offin, who sources describe as extremely cantankerous are said to have participated in the Convocation held on Tuesday, 6th October 2026, but filed the action on Monday, 5th October 2026, through their lawyers, Puozuing & Associates, with the processes specifically signed by Nurideen Seidu Pelpuo Esq.

Essentially, they argue that the convocation register for the election shows approximately 30 new lecturers whose employment or promotional appointment have not been vetted or formally approved by the governing council, nor communicated to the wider GIMPA community.

They further argue that listing these persons as active members with full voting rights for the upcoming convocation on 6th October 2026 will compromise the legality of the elections and produce a biased search committee.

They also claim that permitting the “unapproved persons to vote on a core statutory matter will create an untenable loophole that will compromise the authenticity of a voter roll in GIMPA community.”

“The Plaintiffs (4 professors) aver that the convocation meeting should be put on hold if an audit cannot be completed, vetted, and published ahead of the scheduled date, 6th October 2026. If the Defendants are not restrained and proceed to appoint the Search Committee, they will present a committee unfit to carry out its duty. Unless compelled by this honourable Court, the Defendant has evinced a clear intention to compromise the authenticity of the elections,” the statement of claim accompanying the writ filed read.

Interestingly, a comprehensive audit of the convocation register was duly conducted by a special ad hoc committee established by the Institute’s management and comprising of the Secretary of the Institute and the Directors of Academic Planning & Quality Assurance, Internal Audit and Human Resource Management, and the register was validated, confirmed and circulated to all members of convocation on the eve of the Convocation. In communicating the outcome of the audit to the GIMPA community, the Secretary of the Institute indicated that “The audit confirmed that all persons included in the Convocation Register have valid appointments according to the records of the Human Resource Management Directorate and are eligible to participate in Convocation and vote, except persons on leave of absence or secondment who are not eligible to vote.”

The four plaintiffs, with the exception of one of them, subsequently took part in the convocation and even participated in the voting process, which was described as free and fair and presided over by the Chairman of Council and conducted under the auspices of the Secretary of the Institute, Dr. Mrs Victoria Kunbour.

That notwithstanding, the four plaintiffs are seeking a total of nine reliefs from the court. First is that “upon a true and proper interpretation of Statute 12(a) of GIMPA (2020), the Governing Council is the only body clothed with the authority to appoint a new Rector for and on behalf of the institution.”

Second, “that upon a true and proper interpretation of Statute 12.4 (a) of GIMPA (2020), the 1st Defendant’s only duty in the appointment of a Rector is to commence the processes for the purposes of the appointment.”

Third, “that upon a true and proper interpretation of Statute 12.4(b) of GIMPA (2020), the 1st Defendant shall provide guidelines leading to the processes for the appointment of the Rector.”

Fourth, “that upon a true and proper interpretation of Statute 12.4(c)(ii) of GIMPA (2020), three (3) Senior Members shall be elected by Convocation representing the Professorial class, non-professorial Faculty, and Senior Administrators.”

Fifth, “That by the spirit of the Statute GIMPA (2020), the election of the three (3) Senior Member representatives on the Search Committee shall be free and fair without any interference.”

Sixth, “That the Governing Council has allowed the Rector to offer 30 new appointment letters to 30 new lecturers and has collected their proxies to influence the outcome of the election by the Convocation.”

Seventh, “That the independence of the finally elected representatives by the Convocation cannot be guaranteed.” Eighth, “an order of perpetual injunction” and ninth “costs, including legal fees.”

GIMPA’s Statutes mandate the governing council to initiate the search for a new Rector one year to the expiration of the term of an incumbent Rector. With the current Rector, Prof. Samuel Kwaku Bonsu’s tenure ending in August 2027, the process for his replacement was initiated by the governing council about a month ago. Thus, 4 persons have already been selected as part of the 7 person search committee i.e. 3 members from the council and 1 external person as Chair.

The Statutes further provide that Convocation (an assemblage of all senior members of GIMPA), elect 3 representatives to serve on the Rector Search Committee i.e. one person each representing the Professorial Class, the Non-Professorial Class and the Senior Administrators of the Institute.

Interestingly, one of the Cantankerous quartet, Prof. Patrick Tandoh-Offin, who was recently promoted to Associate Professor, contested in the Convocation elections and campaigned vigorously to be elected as the representative of the Professorial class, ostensibly to enable him push the interest of a council member who was instrumental in his promotion and is rumored to be interested in the Rector position.

The Convocation election results however showed that Prof. Tandoh-Offin obtained a paltry 35 votes as compared to his only competitor, Prof. Emmanuel Gyamfi Numapau, who garnered 118 votes and was duly elected as the Professorial class representative on the Rector Search Committee. Prof. Tandoh-Offin subsequently accepted the results of the election and congratulated the winners and further sent an email to that effect to the GIMPA community, urging unity in the search for a new Rector.

The quartet, however, has managed to call for an emergency Council meeting scheduled to take place on Wednesday 14th October through their close connection with the Council Chairman and it is rumoured that the Council and in particular its Chairman will accede to their demands and illegally nullify the Convocation election results as a result of their lawsuit, which has been described as frivolous and unmeritorious. This will, however, give the group another chance at redemption in any future Convocation elections even though judging from the mood within the GIMPA community and the results from the election last week, that is highly unlikely.

It is also rumoured that it is this same quartet that is behind recent negative and false publications in some media outlets about GIMPA in respect of an institutional audit that was conducted. The quartet managed to get a copy of the preliminary and raw audit findings, without management’s responses as is the norm and custom regarding such audits, but have rather serialised an incomplete report through some media friends of theirs, ostensibly to tarnish the image of GIMPA and in particular its Rector, whilst pushing an agenda for an outsider to be eventually appointed Rector i.e. the rumoured council member.

The ring leader of this cabal is said to be Prof. Wisdom Akpalu, who holds a long-standing grievance against the current Rector over the non-renewal of his tenure as Dean of the Graduate School at GIMPA due to poor performance and missaplication of research grants among a long list of indiscretions. His minions in the hatchet job targeted at bringing the reputation of GIMPA into disrepute are Prof. Mawuko Yevugah (his lieutenant and mentee), who was dismissed from Witswatersrand University in South Africa over a sexual misconduct scandal a few years ago, and is said to be extremely petulant and a confusion maker; and Prof. Kwami Adanu, who is also bitter over his inability to become Dean of the School of Technology and Social Sciences (SOTTS) at GIMPA.