Professional Life & Expertise

In 1989, he joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) headquarters in New York as a Senior Economist and later rose to become the Chief of the Directorate of Africa Bureau. Shortly after joining the UN organisation, Prof. Adei’s boss, the Director of the Bureau at the UNDP, Pierre Claver-Dambah, unexpectedly resigned.

He was replaced by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – who would later become President of Liberia – as the new Head of the Africa Bureau. She assumed her new appointment just at the time he was being considered as UN Ambassador to Uganda. “I do not know what others told her, but she made a passionate request that I work with her for one more year before going to the field. This was to enable her to transit into her new role,” he recalls. Johnson-Sirleaf was of the impression that a totally new person in his role would not be as helpful as he would. He obliged and ended up working with her for another three years instead of one year.

In 1994, South Africa became independent. A British national by the name of David Whaley was appointed to be the UN Ambassador, (Coordinator and Resident Representative) there. But he was then in Kenya and could not go immediately. A Senegalese friend of Prof. Adei was then sent there ahead of the arrival of Whaley. Due to some events, however, the UN decided to withdraw the Senegalese.

Prof. Adei was given three days’ notice to step in. One morning in August of 1994, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf entered his office and dropped the bombshell.  She said, “Stephen, you have to go to South Africa.” He had never worked in the field let alone as Head of the UN system in a country. He was unprepared mentally for this onerous task.

And, beyond that, he made a covenant with his wife and family—that he would never leave them for more than three consecutive months unless he was in prison, which would not be his choice. “So, I raised that to make my argument stronger since I knew South Africa then was not a family duty station. But, bent on ensuring that I take it up, she told me the UN will finance my trips back to New York to see my family every six weeks. Eventually, I had to oblige.” He will forever be remembered as the man who set up the first UN office in post-Apartheid South Africa.

When he returned to New York from South Africa, he had to prepare to move again to Namibia. Between February and August 1995, he rounded off his job as the Chief in the Directorate of the Regional Bureau for Africa and obtained his credentials as the UN Coordinator and the Resident Representative of UNDP and Head of the UN delegation in Namibia.

‘Your Excellency, you must be mad, I must be mad, or a third person is mad.’

After four and half years in Namibia, Prof. Adei was to be reassigned to another country but decided he had had enough diplomatic work. He resigned at the age of 51 taking advantage of a package and headed to Ghana to begin a revolution at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) as its Rector.

The current Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan John Kyerematen, who then was employed under the UNDP regional program had visited Namibia in 1998. Naturally, as the UNDP Rep, Prof. Adei was his host. When he was leaving, Prof. Adei causally told him he would be resigning and returning to Ghana.

Upon return to Ghana, Kyerematen saw an advert in the dailies for people interested in becoming Director-General of GIMPA to apply. He called Prof. to check it out.

“As a Ghanaian would treat a friend, I jokingly told him I am not on the market for a job. Coincidentally, a mutual friend, the late Akwasi Aforo, was sitting in front of my desk, he asked who was on the line. I told him Alan was trying to sell me a GIMPA job. He took the phone from me and after talking to Alan, I heard him say ‘leave it to me’. To cut a long story short Akwasi Aforo persuaded me to write an application before the deadline while I was not thinking about it. Actually, he wrote it for me, took my unedited CV, put it in an envelope and brought it to Ghana,” Professor Adei notes.

In two weeks, he got a response and was invited for an interview. There were other candidates for the job, all professors—one was the Dean of Social Science at the University of Ghana, the other the ‘heir apparent’ at GIMPA who acted as CEO for four months before Prof. Adei took over and a Ghanaian professor resident in Washington.

The interview result, which he read on assuming duty said he was “head and shoulder above all the other candidates.” No wonder, within a month he was offered the job at the end of March 1999. He wrote back to tell them he was unavailable till December 1999, to which they retorted: “That is ok, we will wait for you.”

Then, one day, he was informed that the then Vice President, Prof J.E.A Mills, who became the President of Ghana (2009-2012) would like to see him anytime he was in Ghana. He, therefore, decided to call on him when he was passing through to New York in July 1998.

After the usual courtesies, with a serious look, the Vice President told him reports had reached the Head of State, Flt J.J. Rawlings that he was demonstrating against Rawlings’ government at UN headquarters. Rattled by the accusation, Professor Adei assumed what he describes as an “undiplomatic posture” and said: “Mr Vice President, you must be mad or I am mad or a third party is mad, who is mad?” This was because, in his capacity as a senior diplomat, how could he jeopardize the country’s global position and worse still as a UN Diplomat demonstrate against his own President. That is when my respect for H.E Attah Mills soared. He burst into laughter and added ‘that is the type of people you will be working with at GIMPA. They have told the President that and I have been asked to withdraw your appointment, but I told him I would not. Please don’t disappoint me. I thanked him and promised him I won’t and gave him a set of my books as a gift. May his soul rest in perfect peace.