Greenwich Institute of Technology Limited has sued the Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ) in the Lusaka High Court for defamation after accusing them of being a masquerader.

Greenwich Institute of Technology Limited is claiming damages for loss of profit, business, defamation, mental strain and anguish, as well as a public retraction and apology.

In a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court, Monday, Greenwich Institute stated that they dealt in, among other things, the facilitation of trainings for professionals in the form of workshops, seminars and conferences.

They stated that in 2015, they came up with the idea of holding the first-ever Zambia Women in Engineering Conference.

Greenwich Institute stated that they approached EIZ, being a statutory body with a mandate to promote the advancement of engineering profession in Zambia, for purposes of inviting it to form a partnership ahead of the Zambia Women in Engineering Conference.

They stated that EIZ was thrilled with the prospects of the same and assured them that they would get all necessary approvals in respect of the same.

Greenwich Institute further stated that they went ahead and printed brochures, which were well-received, but they had to be withdrawn at EIZ’s instance.

“The defendant was thrilled with the prospects of the same and assured the plaintiff that they would get all the necessary approvals in respect of the same. The plaintiff went ahead and printed brochures for the said conference and distributed the same among institutions. The said brochure was printed in both parties’ names. The brochures were very well received, but the same had to be withdrawn at the defendant’s instance. This is because the defendant had still not obtained the approvals they had assured the plaintiff they would obtain,” the read the statement of claim.

Greenwich Institute stated that they decided to host the said conference on their own without EIZ and duly informed them of this position and further printed new brochures that excluded EIZ.

“In fact the defendant helped the plaintiff in distributing the same by sending the said brochures to all female engineers on its mailing list. The plaintiff then sent out invitations to a number of high profile female engineers within the country to speak at the said conference and these invitations were duly accepted with enthusiasm,” read the statement of claim.

They disclosed that they were surprised when a number of the said speakers called to verify its legitimacy as EIZ had strongly discouraged them from participating in the said conference.

Greenwich Institute stated that despite assuring all the people who made enquiries that it was legitimate, some of the speakers withdrew from the conference due to EIZ’s actions.

They stated that despite that, they successfully held the conference after replacing the speakers, of which EIZ never attended despite being invited.

Greenwich Institute stated that when they sent out invitations for this year’s conference, EIZ sent a memo to its members discouraging them from attending the event accusing the conveners of being masqueraders.

“All participants withdrew from attending the conference on account of the said defamatory brochure. All monies expended on arranging for the said conference went to waste and did not yield any profit as the result of the same,” the statement of claim read further.

They now claim for damages for loss of profit, business, defamation, mental strain and anguish, a public retraction and apology in respect of the defamatory memo, compensation for monies expended, interest, costs and any other reliefs.