Court orders GIMPA to approve Prof. Tuuli’s application as Deputy Rector

The High Court in Accra has ruled that a decision by the governing council of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to disqualify Professor Martin Morgan Tuuli, from re-applying for the position of Deputy Rector of the school is unfair. 

It has, therefore, held that Prof. Tuuli, a former Deputy Rector and Professor of Construction Business and Project Management, is eligible to apply for the position since it was his accrued right under the GIMPA statute.

This was contained in the decision of the General Jurisdiction of the High Court, which slapped GIMPA, the defendant, with a cost of GH¢10,000 cedis in the case filed by the professor.

The judgment grants the plaintiff relief which seeks to compel the school to accept the recommendation of the vetting committee approving his application for the position of Deputy Rector of GIMPA.

Background

Prof. Tuuli was appointed on July 15, 2020, for three academic years and is eligible to hold office for a second term of up to three academic years only, subject to re-nomination by the Search Committee of the Defendant.

In September 2020, the GIMPA’s Governing Council enacted new statutes stating, “The Deputy Rector shall hold office for a fixed term of three academic years only without an option for a renewal.”

The 2020 statutes also contained a clause that, “the statutes in force immediately before the coming into force of these statutes are hereby repealed” and further that “despite the repeal of the statutes in force before the commencement of these statutes, the Rector, Deputy Rector, Secretary, Deans, Directors, Heads of Departments and all other office holders shall continue to hold office for the periods and under the terms and conditions under which they were appointed until the expiration of their respective terms of offices”.

Operationalisation

After the enactment of the new statutes in 2020, GIMPA followed up with a circular on the operationalisation of the 2020 statutes that repeated and affirmed the above arrangements.

It was the plaintiff’s case that under the terms of Prof. Tuuli’s appointment and GIMPA’s 2015 statutes, he was therefore eligible to reapply for re-appointment as the Deputy Rector of the Defendant subject to re-nomination by the Search Committee of the Defendant.

In March 2023, the plaintiff in his writ, said GIMPA’s Governing Council caused an advert to be made of the upcoming vacancy for the position of Deputy Rector since his current term would have come to an end on August 31, 2023.

Prof. Tuuli responded to the advert by putting in an application on April 13, 2023. He argued in his writ that rather than set up the vetting committee as requested by its statutes, GIMPA’s Governing Council decided to pronounce on the eligibility of the candidates and decided that he was ineligible by the provisions of current engagement which provide for a term limit of three years without renewal and ignoring the transitional provisions of the self-same statutes.

He added in his writ that GIMPA’s Governing Council then set up the vetting committee to proceed with the remaining two candidates.