GIMPA Rector admits he’s not a Prof

*Make me and my wife professors, Dr. Adei writes to Council

Dr. Stephen Adei, Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has finally admitted that he is not a professor.

The details of the admission to his not being a duly recognised and appointed professor at GIMPA are contained in an application letter he has sent to the Deputy Rector and Dean of Academic Affairs of the Institute and copied to members of the GIMPA governing Council seeking to obtain GIMPA’s appointment as a professor.

Sources say the tone of the letter is very ridiculous judging from the fact that a thorough reading confirms Dr. Adei’s admission that he knows he is not a properly and duly appointed professor of or at GIMPA and also betrays a lack of knowledge on his part about the grades of professorship at GIMPA.

Academics who have seen the letter and have spoken to Gye Nyame Concord upon consultation say all appointments to the grade of Full Professor, which Dr. Adei has now applied for following The Ghanaian Observer’s expose, must meet the condition precedent of the candidate having been previously appointed an Associate Professor and having stayed on that grade for at least five years, at least by GIMPA’s statutes.

The letter which is dated 4th September, 2007 and signed by Dr. Stephen Adei is titled APPLICATION TO COUNCIL TO CONFIRM THAT THE RECTOR MEETS MORE THAN THE REQUIREMENTS OF A FULL PROFESSOR AT GIMPA.

The opening paragraph reads: “I refer to the Council’s meeting of 27th August 2007. At that meeting, the Council concluded that in appointing me as Rector, they did not make any pronouncement regarding professorship. Even though I am currently an Adjunct Professor of Africa Leadership and Management Academy (ALMA), it is important for any doubt to erase regarding the fact that the Principal Academic Officer of the Institute, which the Rector is and who presides over the Assessments and Recommendations for Professorship, meets the academic requirements of Professor of the Institute even though that would not result in any additional compensation or promotion in the case of the Rector.”

Continuing, Dr. Adei’s application states, “The process at GIMPA (with regard to professorship) is for the Academic Board to have a sample of the candidate (sic) academic work of the applicant reviewed and to make recommendations to the Council accordingly. In making this submission, as Chairman of both the Academic and Appointments and Promotions Boards, I would exclude myself from the total process and recommend that the exercise should be overseen by the Council Members of the Appointments and Promotions Board.”

He proceeds that “Four categories of factors are considered for full professorship at GIMPA viz:

i) Service - 25 points

ii) Teaching and supervision - 35 points

iii) Being in Senior position up to 5 years - 45 points

iv) Research and publications - 45 points

A full professor is expected to score a total of 75 points”

“Even though it is yet to come into force, I consider that the draft statutes improve on the existing regulations in that it stipulates that at least half of the points required should be earned under research and publications,” Dr. Adei further states in his letter.

Continuing, he states that his application is supported inter alia by the fact that “I have written and co-authored with my loving wife of 32 years more than 10 books on the subject. Each year we train and help many people. Of late we focus on trainer of trainers-especially Pastors, 2000 of whom attended workshops we held in Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia in 2006 and we have had sessions with hundred (sic) of Christian Leaders in Ghana in 2007 already.”

Dr. Adei, in further support of his application to be made a full professor at and of GIMPA states “I spend a lot of my spare time speaking to young people in schools each year. I chaired the first ever Awards for basic schools this year. Most significantly my wife and I, out of our limited resources, founded the first ever not-for profit Senior Secondary - The Ghana Christian International High School- in which hundreds of young people are being trained “For God, Family and Country” (the School’s motto).

To support the fact that he meets one of the conditions-precedent at GIMPA for appointment as a professor, Dr. Adei under the requirement of ‘Being In A Senior Position For A Period states:

“This requirement pertains to being in a senior grade for 5 years before being a Full Professor. Under the draft Statutes the proposed period is being reduced to 3 years. My full CV (attached) shows that even prior to joining GIMPA I would have met that requirement and the Council has appointed people to Principal and Chief Officer positions which are analogous to Associate Professor and Full Professorship for those who do not meet publications requirement (see Below).

In my case, as a former Deputy Director and Head of Research of Ghana Investment Centre; Senior Economist of the Commonwealth Secretariat; Senior Economist rising to Director, and UNDP Resident Coordinator (Full Ambassadorial position) would be more than meet that requirement.

More than all the above, I have been Director-General and Rector of GIMPA since 1st January, 2000. Thus I have more than met that condition.”

Dr. Adei then proceeds to cite the research and publications, books and refereed book chapters as well as papers in referred journals and selected academic papers he has authored to support his application.

Readers mar recall that at the instance of Dr. Adei, the state-owned Daily Graphic published in its July 5, 2002 edition that he had been appointed a Professor of African Leadership by the Harare-based African Leadership and Management Academy (ALMA) and has since then been referred to as a Professor.

Whilst in his application letter to the GIMPA Council Dr Adei claims to be an Adjunct Professor of ALMA, what was published in the Daily Graphic of July 5, 2002 did not disclose that fact and in consequence he has been referred to as a Professor from that date to date.

The Ghanaian Observer in its Monday, August 13, 2007 issue, published that Dr. Adei is not a GIMPA appointed and recognised professor.