The Supreme Court has put on hold the judgment of the Court of Appeal ordering the promotion of 40 police officers who sued the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, over their exclusion from a promotion programme.
The decision to halt the execution of the Court of Appeal’s order was to afford the Supreme Court the opportunity to hear a pending appeal challenging that order.
The panel chaired by Justice Gabriel Pwamang held that the affected police officers would suffer less inconvenience than the State if the stay was not granted.
“Accordingly, we hereby grant the application for stay of execution of the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 27th January 2026,” the panel unanimously ruled.
The Court of Appeal had overturned an earlier judgment of the High Court which dismissed the officers’ case and directed the police authorities to effect their promotions.
The dispute arose from an amnesty granted by the Police Management Board in 2021, which made officers enlisted between December 2008 and 2020 and holding first degrees eligible for promotion.
The 40 officers argued that they were unfairly excluded from the programme despite some of their colleagues, including officers junior to them, benefiting from the arrangement.
They were seeking promotion from Chief Inspectors to Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs).
They also pointed to promotions granted to other personnel, including those from Corporal to Sergeant, Sergeant to Inspector, and Inspector to Chief Inspector, as evidence of what they described as unequal treatment.
Dissatisfied with their exclusion, they sued the IGP and the Police Management Board at the High Court in Kumasi, seeking an order compelling the authorities to promote them.
However, the High Court dismissed the action, prompting the officers to appeal.
The Court of Appeal subsequently ruled in their favour by reversing the High Court’s decision and ordering that their promotions be effected.
Dissatisfied, the IGP and the Police Management Board appealed to the Supreme Court and, before the hearing of the appeal, filed an application to stay execution of the judgment pending determination of the appeal.
The application has now been granted.
