Committee on IGP leaked tape appears to have widened its scope beyond original terms – Col. Aboagye

The committee formed by the Speaker of Parliament to investigate the circumstances surrounding the leaked tape on a plot to oust the Inspector General of Police (IGP) may have gone beyond its original scope of work, a security analyst has said.

Col. Festus Aboagye (rtd) explained that with all that is going on in the investigations, it appears there is a plot to remove the IGP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.

“I have been of the view that there is some empirical evidence that there is a bigger political agenda to remove the IGP from office. That is, more or less, evidenced in the approach that the committee has adopted, which appears to widen the scope beyond its original terms of reference, first of all, authenticating the leaked audio/video material and investigating the circumstances surrounding the plot to remove the IGP from office by some persons still in uniform of the police service and one or two others who are civilians.

“I don’t hold the view that the committee has the mandate to investigate matters surrounding how the IGP is appointed that must belong to another body or another mechanism, including, for instance, the constitutional review commission, which I believe was conducted in about 2011… This committee, I think, should not have the remit of investigating any aspect of the IGP’s appointment relating to the powers of the authority that appointed him,” he said, according to a report by 3news.com has said.

Earlier, the lead lawyer for the IGP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, Kwame Gyan, raised concerns about the proceedings of the hearings, accusing the chairman of the ad hoc committee, Samuel Atta Akyea, of bias.

The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Atta Akyea, has, however, shot down those accusations, stating that he feels disappointed that anyone could think such a way about his handling of the committee hearings.

“It is very disappointing for anybody to say I am biased. On the contrary, the generality of Ghanaians believe that I have steered the affairs of the committee well. If anybody is having jitters, that I am going to manufacture evidence against the IGP, it does not accord with common sense.

“Because what we are doing here is being recorded, so, Atta Akyea with whatever dexterity will not be able to improve upon the evidence,” he told journalists after an in-camera hearing by the committee on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.

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