26/11/2025
AMIDU BLASTS MAHAMA FOR “BRAZEN RESET LOYALTY” AS LETTER SHOWS FULL DETAILS OF IGP YOHUNO’S TWO-YEAR EXTENSION
By Hard Law Journal
26 November 2025
A leaked presidential letter confirming Inspector-General of Police Christian Tetteh Yohuno’s two-year post-retirement contract has triggered a blistering response from former Special Prosecutor Martin A. B. K. Amidu, who accuses President John Mahama of “brazenly violating” his own pledge to end post-retirement extensions in the public service.
Presidency’s Letter Sets Off Political Shockwaves
The controversy began when a formal letter from the Office of the President—dated 25 November 2025 and signed by Secretary to the President, Dr. Callistus Mahama—circulated widely within security and political circles.
The letter, titled “RE-ENGAGEMENT AS INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE,” spelled out the President’s approval of “an additional two (2) years upon the attainment of the statutory retirement age in December 2025.”
It stated:
“I write to inform you that, following the recommendation of the Police Council and in accordance with the relevant provisions governing the administration of the Ghana Police Service, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama… has approved your re-engagement for an additional two (2) years…”
Other key elements of the letter included:
1. Yohuno’s renewed tenure begins 28 December 2025.
2. He will continue to “serve as Inspector-General of Police and discharge the duties and responsibilities attached to the office.”
3. The Police Council believes his leadership is “essential to sustaining ongoing reforms.”
4. Yohuno is to submit written acceptance within three days.
5. Copies were sent to the Vice President, Chief of Staff, and Minister for the Interior.
The letter’s emergence quickly ignited debate in the wake of the President’s earlier public stance against extending the service of retiring public officers.
Amidu Responds With Fury
Hours after the letter began circulating, Martin Amidu issued a stinging critique accusing the President of undermining his own credibility. In his statement, Amidu said Mahama had displayed “indecisiveness dressed as loyalty” and a “reset agenda” that favours allies over institutional integrity.
He insisted that the Police Council had originally recommended a one-year extension, but this was allegedly overruled after lobbying from the IGP’s circles—an act he considers “a betrayal of the sovereign electorate.”
Key Points
• President Mahama approved a two-year extension for IGP Yohuno despite previously banning such contracts.
• Police Council initially recommended a one-year contract.
• Amidu claims lobbying from the IGP’s camp influenced the change.
• Younger officers reportedly felt betrayed by shifting succession expectations.
• Debate hinges on the narrow constitutional allowance in Article 199(4).
The Constitutional Question: Article 199(4)
The 1992 Constitution permits post-retirement re-engagements—but only under limited conditions. Article 199(4) states:
“A public officer may, after retiring from the public service, be engaged for a limited period on contract if that officer is needed for the efficient running of the public service.”
This clause forms the legal basis of the President’s action, but Amidu argues that relying on it contradicts Mahama’s own political promises and widens mistrust within security institutions.
Fractured Trust Within the Police Service
Amidu describes the Police High Command as a “basket of crabs,” where rivalries intensify whenever succession is threatened. Younger officers, expecting an imminent leadership transition, reportedly viewed even a one-year extension as disruptive—let alone two.
The leaked letter, he says, confirms what insiders already suspected: that the IGP’s lobby had outmanoeuvred institutional expectations.
A Pattern, or an Exception?
Amidu linked the IGP’s extension to what he claims is a broader pattern of re-engagements under Mahama’s “reset government,” referencing earlier post-retirement appointments such as that of retired Circuit Court Judge W.O.1 Samuel Bright Acquah.
Whether this extension is an isolated necessity or part of a deliberate strategy remains the central political question.
A Leadership Test for the Mahama Administration
As the administration navigates the early months of its second term, the issue now tests its adherence to constitutional discretion, internal reform promises, and public trust.
For Amidu, however, the message is simpler and starker:
“We-the-People can never be deceived all the time.”
Below is the full article:
CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT MAHAMA ON IGP YOHUNO’S POST-RETIREMENT CONTRACT: BY MARTIN A. B. K. AMIDU
President John Mahama deserves congratulations for giving the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, a post-retirement contract appointment for two years to demonstrate his inability to keep to his own promise to the electorate on post-retirement contracts. President Mahama had directed the Police Council to review the original one-year post-retirement contract it first recommended to him upon his instructions as a matter of form, from one year to two years which raised the issue of his usual indecisiveness in making conclusive decisions when it comes to family, friends, cronies, and associates.
The Police Council as a matter of constitutional formality did indeed recommend a post-retirement contract appointment for IGP Yohuno initially for one year on the instructions of the President, but the announcement delayed because the IGP’s lobbyists objected to the recommendation and insisted on President Mahama making it two years.
The Ghana Police High Command is like a basket of crabs from which jealousies and rivalries abound especially when rules and expectations based on a president and his government’s promises are in the process of violation. There are younger officers whose expectation of career progression for consideration for the position of IGP are frustrated even by a one-year post-retirement contract and had good reason to fight back by leaking like a sieve.
The propaganda that the Police Council had recommended the extension of IGP Yohuno’s service for two years without informing the public of the earlier recommendation of a one-year post-retirement contract is nauseating and an insult to the sovereign electorate.
I had not heard the announcement of the service extension when a friend informed me about it and reminded me that I had told him that once I had written about the subject John Mahama would grant IGP Yohuno’s a two-year extension contract despite the government’s instructions banning such post-retirement contracts.
We both knew of the one-year post-retirement contract on the table. My response was that he had not seen anything of the reset agenda yet. Another friend also said to me: “You mentioned the IGP extension and it has come to pass,” and my reply was: Well, it was and is the reset plan.” A third friend said to me: “...But Mahama has exposed himself big time with this IGP nonsense.”
IGP Yohuno was due to retire on 27 December 2025 and his post-retirement extension is technically better than when W. O. 1. Samuel Bright Acquah, formerly of the Ghana Airforce Jet Fighter Squadron, who as a Judge of the Circuit Court had retired at the age of 60 years on 16 September 2025 as a circuit court judge was appointed by President Mahama to the High Court on 23 October 2025 to enable him to hang on until 65 years or even to 70 years for the ex*****on of the opaque reset agenda as a justice of the superior courts.
The electorate will get to know the decisiveness of the President better with time. I congratulate President Mahama for violating his own rules and promises in giving IGP Yohuno a two-year post-retirement contract. This is a typical example of the President’s exhibition of fidelity to his family, friends, and cronies as the core principle of his reset government agenda thus far. We-the-People can never be deceived all the time.
Martin A. B. K. Amidu
25 November 2025
