Ghana is watching two parallel dramas unfold.
On one side, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), George Akuffo Dampare’s successor, IGP Yohuno, reportedly gets a contract extension — justified by government allies as “continuity”, “stability”, “institutional progress”.
On the other side, ARB Apex Bank’s Managing Director, Alex Kwasi Awuah, is denied renewal by the Bank of Ghana — a technocratic decision dismissed by many within the system as unfair and destabilizing.
Suddenly, the ruling elite remembers accountability in banking governance
— but forgets it entirely at the police headquarters.
This is where public anger is justified.
You cannot preach “renewal brings fresh thinking” in finance but insist “experience must not be wasted” in the police service — all depending on whether the beneficiary is politically aligned or not.
That is hypocrisy.
And Ghana has seen too much of it.
The NDC’s Problem Is Not Policy — It Is Double Standards
If the NDC government insists leadership renewal is critical for Apex, why cling to contract extensions for IGP Yohuno?
If the party says regulators must ensure transparency and competitiveness, why exempt the police service from that logic?
In one breath, the administration praises independence of institutions.
In another, it brazenly substitutes institutional decision-making with political convenience.
This selective application of “principles” reveals the truth:
governance arguments in Ghana are often masks for political interests.
The Bigger Issue: Contract Extensions Are Becoming Patronage Currency
Across the public sector, contract renewals are no longer reform decisions — they are loyalty rewards:
✔ reward the favoured,
✔ discard the unfavoured,
✔ apply “merit” only when it suits you.
That is how institutional credibility erodes.
BoG vs. Government — A Contrast of Behaviour
The Bank of Ghana may not be perfect, but in the Apex episode it exercised its legal mandate — even against pressure and backlash.
Contrast that with the political establishment:
Where was tough evaluation when renewing the IGP’s mandate?
Where were parliamentary transparency hearings?
Where was performance auditing?
Silence.
Because politics intruded where merit should have prevailed.
What Ghana Needs Is Consistency
If contract renewal is about:
• accountability,
• performance,
• succession,
• institutional integrity…
…then apply that everywhere — banks, police, revenue agencies, SOEs.
If the rule is continuity for stability, then give continuity everywhere — not selectively to your favourites.
Anything less is manipulation disguised as governance.
Citizens See Through It
Ordinary people are not confused.
They see when principles become weapons used only against rivals.
They see when accountability becomes theatre.
And that is why public trust is collapsing.
The real scandal is not whether Awuah’s contract was renewed or the IGP’s was extended —
the scandal is the blatant, politically convenient inconsistency.
Until NDC apply standards evenly and transparently, Ghana will keep recycling distrust, factionalism, and institutional decay.
Hypocrisy is not strategy.
It is rot and the public knows it.
