Kofi Bentil, Vice President of IMANI Africa, has condemned the appointment of COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno as the new Inspector General of Police (IGP), describing the move as contemptuous of the Supreme Court.
Bentil’s remarks come in the wake of a pending court injunction regarding the removal of the IGP, and other security service chiefs.
Speaking on the matter in an interview with Joy News on Friday, he emphasised the principle that actions undermining or preempting a court’s decision while a case is ongoing are unlawful and disrespectful to judicial authority.
“When a case is before a court, it is contemptuous of the court for anybody to take an action that overreaches the court,” he stated. “What it means is simply that you don’t do anything to make nonsense of a court ruling where it is imminent.”
Bentil further criticised the executive branch for proceeding with the appointment despite the unresolved legal case, which has been pending for over a year.
He warned that such actions could lead to significant confusion and undermine the integrity of the judicial process.
“That confusion which will erupt is exactly the reason why no law-abiding person, when a case is before a court and the court is about to make a ruling, would go and try to overreach the court,” he added.
The Vice President of IMANI Africa also highlighted the existence of a school of thought suggesting that an injunction is already in place, necessitating confirmation to prevent any actions that could violate it.
“Indeed, there is a school of thought that believes that under the circumstance, there is already an injunction in place, which is why we filed to confirm that injunction, so that, if there is any doubt, nobody will act based on that,” Bentil explained.
Adding “Now being that, as it may, that they have done what they’ve done if the court ruled that indeed, the president should not remove any IGP or security head or whatever without just cause, what happens? We end up in a very, very terrible stalemate.”
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