A group of forty police officers has formally petitioned the Deputy Attorney-General, seeking urgent intervention in a dispute with the Ghana Police Service over what they describe as a deliberate attempt to circumvent a binding order from the Court of Appeal.
The officers, through their legal representatives, are crying foul over a recent Police Service directive that they argue directly contradicts a judgement delivered by the Court of Appeal in Kumasi on January 22, 2026. The directive, contained in a Police signal dated February 17, 2026, requires the officers to sit for a competitive examination for entry into the Police Academy.
According to the petition dated February 27, 2026, this requirement undermines the court’s ruling in the case of C/Inspr. Christopher Okpattah and 39 Others versus the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General.
The legal battle began when the officers, who are Chief Inspectors, were excluded from a “special amnesty” granted by the Inspector-General of Police. This amnesty allowed a different set of officers direct entry into the Police Academy without sitting for the mandatory competitive examination. After losing their initial challenge at the High Court, the officers appealed, and the Court of Appeal ruled in their favour, overturning the lower court’s decision.
The appellate court not only quashed the previous ruling but also issued a specific directive to the Police Council, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Police Appointment and Promotion Advisory Board. The court ordered the authorities to “take steps to correct the error” that led to the officers’ denial of promotion and mandated that the affected officers be promoted within a period of six months.
In their petition, the officers’ lawyers argue that the new directive for a competitive examination is not only a procedural hurdle but a fundamental contradiction of the court’s intent.
“The competitive examination as a mandatory precondition for entry into the Police Academy undermines and defeats the reasoning of the Court of Appeal and reintroduces the injustice the court sought to cure,” the petition states.
The lawyers maintain that the Court of Appeal’s order was clear: to rectify a past administrative error that had unjustly denied their clients promotion. They are now calling on the Deputy Attorney-General to intervene, asserting that the Police Service’s latest move constitutes a failure to implement a lawful court judgement.
The petition seeks to compel the Police leadership to adhere to the court’s orders and grant the officers the promotions they were promised without the precondition of a fresh competitive examination.
