Supreme Court throws out IMANI Africa suit, upholds President’s power over security agencies
The Supreme Court has dealt a decisive blow to think tank IMANI Africa, dismissing a legal challenge that sought to limit the President’s authority to appoint and remove the heads of the country’s security agencies.
Delivering the judgment, panel Chairman Justice Gabriel Pwamang threw out all reliefs sought by the plaintiffs, ruling that the President is constitutionally empowered to constitute and oversee Ghana’s security architecture — finding no merit whatsoever in the case brought before the court.
The court drew careful distinctions between specific offices in its ruling. It held that the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of Prisons fall outside the protective scope of Article 191 of the Constitution, which shields certain categories of public office holders from arbitrary removal.
On the other hand, the court found that the appointments of the Chief Fire Officer and the Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service are governed by statutory provisions, though these too remain within the President’s discretionary authority.
The suit was originally filed in 2024 by IMANI Africa alongside security analyst Professor Kwesi Aning, who together had sought a formal declaration that the President’s power to remove heads of specified security agencies was not absolute and unfettered.
With the Supreme Court’s dismissal, the President’s broad authority over the country’s security leadership has been firmly upheld, bringing to a close a legal challenge that had raised significant questions about the boundaries of executive power over Ghana’s security institutions.
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