Mahama’s ‘Retirees Go’ Vow Crumbles Amid Third-Term Whispers
By Prince Ahenkorah
Ghana’s security apparatus is reeling from a seismic U-turn that has critics baying for blood, as President John Dramani Mahama rubber-stamps a two-year extension for Inspector General Christian Tetteh Yohuno, igniting explosive speculation that the NDC strongman is slyly plotting a constitutional heist to clinch a third presidential shot beyond 2028 a brazen flip from his August pledge in Singapore to bow out gracefully.
The bombshell letter, dated November 25 and inked by Mahama’s secretary Dr. Callistus Mahama, revives Yohuno’s tenure from December 28, 2025, to 2027, citing Police Council nods under Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang for “sustaining reforms.”
But in a nation scarred by tenure scandals, this reeks of favoritism: Yohuno, a Mahama loyalist handpicked post-2024, dodges mandatory retirement at 60, fueling whispers of a security lockdown to grease the wheels for term-limit tinkering.
“This isn’t leadership; it’s a power grab disguised as policy,” thundered Emmanuel Kotin, Executive Director of the Africa Center for Security and Counterterrorism, on TV3’s New Day, slamming the move as “double standards” that mocks the government’s April 2025 “let retirees go, let the young grow” crusade a youth empowerment mantra that axed military brass but now spares the IGP.
Kotin’s tirade cut deep: With over 30 years in uniform, Yohuno should “bow out gracefully and rest,” he urged, warning the extension which the IGP has three days to accept sets a perilous precedent.
Why stop at the top cop? Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, 69 and eyeing 2026 retirement, or Chief of Defence Staff Lt. Gen. Wiliam Agyapong could next demand the same “special dispensation,” unraveling institutional ladders and breeding resentment among ambitious juniors.
“Has Yohuno rolled out transformative policies? Operational innovations? Reforms? None” Kotin blasted, accusing Mahama of Pontius Pilate pretense washing hands of the Police Council’s recommendation while undermining his own fiscal discipline vow tied to no third-term bid.
The timing couldn’t be more incendiary. Just months after Mahama’s Singapore tete-a-tete with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, where he vowed, “I will not be a candidate in the next elections,” NDC insiders like ex-MP Kojo Adu-Asare are fanning third-term flames on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen.
“Ghanaians want him Mahama deserves another term. If constitutional barriers block it, we’ll test the law. Why not?” Adu-Asare roared, arguing four-year cycles hobble transformation and that eight more years under Mahama would eclipse Akufo-Addo’s “stagnation.”
With public calls swelling polls show 55% backing his return amid economic woes Yohuno’s lifeline smells like a trial balloon for Article 66 amendments, potentially torpedoing rivals like Haruna Iddrisu or Asiedu Nketiah, Julius Debrah and Eric Opoku etal in the NDC queue.
Defenders cry foul on the outrage: The April suspension was “temporal,” they insist, and Mahama broke no rules Police Service Act allows re-engagements for “essential leadership.”
Yet, in a polity haunted by ex-IGP George Dampare’s controversial 2023 ouster, this smacks of cronyism, eroding the NDC’s anti-corruption halo. Kotin’s plea resonates: Amid youth bulges (over 60% under 35, per UN stats), sidelining veterans stifles fresh blood, especially when security threats like chieftaincy clashes and election jitters loom.
As the public digest this slap to democratic norms, the IGP’s yes-or-no deadline looms but the real verdict? Whether Mahama a “consummate democrat” would survive a third-term storm.