No need for IGP to appear before leaked tape committee – Major Derrick Oduro

Former Deputy Defence Minister, Major Derrick Oduro (Rtd.), has said that there is no need for the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, to appear before the ad-hoc parliamentary committee probing his alleged ousting.

COP George Mensah, one of the top police officers implicated in the alleged plot to oust the Inspector General of Police on Friday, September 1, told the committee that Dr. Dampare orchestrated the recording of the leaked tape and has the original copy and must be called upon if the committee needs the tape.

But Major Oduro (Rtd) in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, intimated that there is no need for the IGP to be invited before the Committee.

“There is no need for the IGP to be invited because it is an accusation against him and I don’t know the terms of reference [of the Committee] and we are talking about a leaked tape, and I am not sure the terms of reference cover anything that will warrant the invitation of the IGP, and so I don’t think it is in a good direction for them to invite the IGP.”

“The Committee should consider the matter as it has been reported in the leaked tape and that should end it.”

Major Oduro (Rtd.) also criticized the decision of the Committee to broadcast its sittings, which he argued could harm public security.

“I thought it was going to be an administrative inquiry so that some of these things don’t come out. This should have been done in-camera because some security issues would have come up and protected if it was in-camera. It is not the best that a sitting IGP is being chastised this publicly, it is not the best.”

Agalga thinks otherwise

James Agalga, the Vice Chairman of the committee said they may have to invite the IGP to help in the ongoing probe.

He told Umaru Sanda Amadu in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM in Accra on Friday that although former National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bugri Naabu, took responsibility for the recorded audio, recent claims by COP Alex Mensah, give the issue a new twist.

“Bugri Naabu took responsibility for recording the tape. But today, COP Alex Mensah, gave the whole matter another twist. He is now alleging that the Inspector General of Police is the one who engineered the recording of the conversation. That is a very serious allegation to make. In all fairness to the IGP, the committee may have to invite him to assist in the investigation to determine if he actually played a role in the recording. So that when it turns out that, yes, indeed, he was involved in having the conversation recorded, then he could also help the committee with the authentication. What the committee is interested in is whether the tape in question is authentic or not.”

“Bugri Naabu has already taken the lead by saying that he did the recording. Today you heard Alex Mensah say that aspects of the tape are not genuine. He admitted and took responsibility for some aspects of it. So I think that it’s only fair that before we make any conclusive statements as a committee, especially as the IGP’s name has been mentioned, in line with natural justice, we should hear from him. But that is my personal view for now,” Mr. Agalga said.

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