Supreme Court rejects IMANI’s injunction against President’s security appointments
The Supreme Court has dismissed as moot an injunction application seeking to prevent the President from replacing the Inspector General of Police and other security chiefs.
The ruling follows former President John Mahama’s decision to appoint COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno as the new Inspector General of Police, replacing Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.
Additionally, Mahama made leadership changes across other security agencies, including the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Prisons Service, and Ghana Immigration Service.
The injunction application was filed by IMANI Africa and Security Analyst Prof. Kwesi Aning, who sought to block what they perceived as an attempt by the President to preempt the Supreme Court’s ruling on the substantive case challenging the President’s authority to unilaterally dismiss security chiefs.
In their suit, the plaintiffs argued that the Constitution suggests that security service chiefs, once appointed, can only be removed based on stated misconduct.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court questioned whether the application had become moot since the President had already made the appointments. However, lawyers for the plaintiffs contended that this was precisely why they had filed the injunction.
Despite this argument, the Supreme Court dismissed the application, ruling that the injunction did not prevent the President from carrying out his constitutionally mandated duties.
The Court has scheduled May 7 for its final judgment on whether the President has the power to terminate the appointments of security chiefs without proof of misconduct.
