IGP, Christian Tetteh Yohuno
The Supreme Court has halted the promotion of 40 Chief Inspectors to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), pending the determination of an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal in Kumasi which gave the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Christian Tetteh Yohuno, six months within which to carry out the promotion.
The Court of Appeal on January 22, 2026 ordered the IGP to take immediate steps to promote 40 police Chief Inspectors who were excluded from a special amnesty promotion exercise.
The amnesty announced by the police covered officers who passed out from police training schools by 2008 and had obtained university degrees as of 2020.
The officers had gone to court to challenge the decision to leave them out of the amnesty, although they meet the requirement under the said amnesty.
A High Court in Kumasi had earlier turned down the demands of the 40, holding that there is no automatic promotion in the police service as such promotions are merit-based and the prerequisite of passing an entrance exam to the police officers training school.
Not satisfied with the decision of the High Court, the officer led by Chief Inspector Christopher Okpattah appealed the decision and sought the court to overturn the decision.
The Court of Appeal in unanimous decision on January 22, 2026 overturned the High Court decision, holding that the exclusion of the officers from the promotion exercise, while others were promoted, amounted to an act of injustice against them.
The court, therefore directed the police administration to promote the chief inspectors within six months and to pay all entitlements due them in line with the promotions.
Stay of Execution
The police administration has filed an application for a stay of the execution of the orders of the Court of Appeal pending an appeal against the decision at the Supreme Court.
The application essentially argues that should the appeal succeed, the promotion will disrupt the administrative process of the police by way of having to remove the officers from that position.
On the contrary, should the appeal fail, the police administration contends that the promotion of the 40 Chief Inspectors will be backdated to the date the Court of Appeal gave its judgement.
A five-member panel of the court, Gabriel Pwamang (presiding), Samuel Asiedu, Hafisata Amaleboba, Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko-Essah and Anthony Forson Jnr. was of the opinion that the 40 police officers stand to suffer lesser inconvenience than the police administration in this case.
“Accordingly, we hereby grant the application for stay of execution of the judgement of the Court of Appeal dated 22nd January 2026,” the panel held.
By Gibril Abdul Razak