By Nadia Ntiamoah
A legal storm is brewing in the intelligence and academic circles as Ambassador Rasheed Seidu Inusah, a former Director-General of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), now the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), has filed a defamation suit at the High Court in Accra against Dr. Bright Mawuko Ayitey and Advent Press Limited.
The lawsuit, which demands GH¢10 million in damages, stems from controversial claims made in a book authored by Ayitey titled “Intelligence in Policy and Decision Making in Africa.”
According to the statement of claim filed by the plaintiff’s legal counsel, Musah Ahmed of Ahmed Legal Consult, the publication contains several statements that allegedly defame Ambassador Inusah by portraying him as having engaged in unethical recruitment practices during his tenure as head of Ghana’s foremost internal security agency.
The book, which was printed by Advent Press Limited, is at the heart of the legal action, with Inusah arguing that the content has damaged his reputation and career.
Ambassador Inusah, a seasoned diplomat and intelligence expert who has served in various national security roles since 1985, including as Director-General of the Research Department (Ghana’s external intelligence service), contends that the book makes unfounded allegations that severely tarnish his professional integrity.
Among the claims cited as defamatory are statements that allege Inusah orchestrated politically motivated recruitments at the BNI, describing the process as “the worst and most outrageous recruitment ever in the history of the BNI in 2018/2019.”
Another passage alleges he recruited over 500 party loyalists of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) without due process.
The plaintiff insists these assertions are not only false but were made recklessly and with malicious intent.
The suit further alleges that Dr. Ayitey’s statements were published without verifying the facts or allowing the plaintiff to respond, thereby breaching the ethical obligations expected of a security officer and author.
Ambassador Inusah also accuses Dr. Ayitey of breaching Section 43(1) of the Security and Intelligence Services Act, 2020 (Act 1030), which governs the professional conduct of intelligence officers. In addition to the reputational damage, Inusah cites emotional distress and negative implications for his career as consequences of the defamatory material.
Before filing the suit, the plaintiff’s lawyers wrote to the defendants on April 7, 2025, demanding a retraction, public apology, and removal of the offending statements from all editions of the book.
However, the response received from Dr. Ayitey’s legal team on April 14 justified the publication, arguing it was the outcome of peer-reviewed academic research conducted under the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.
They further claimed that the content was based on anonymized interviews and field data and had received institutional approvals.
Despite these assertions, the plaintiff maintains that the book lacks credible substantiation and was designed to malign his character.
He argues that no reasonable defense exists for the publication of the statements, especially as he was invited to contribute to the research but declined, which, he asserts, should not have justified the inclusion of unverified claims.
Inusah is seeking the court’s intervention to order a full retraction of the defamatory statements, a written apology from Dr. Ayitey, and a perpetual injunction restraining both the author and the publisher from circulating any related defamatory materials.
He also wants the court to bar the defendants and their associates from making future defamatory comments about him.
