IGP tape: Civil society groups meet Bagbin over Atta Akyea’s conduct

Civil Society groups in the country have met the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin over what they say is the bias of the chairman of the special parliamentary committee probing the leaked tape on the alleged plot to remove the Inspector General of Police by some Police officers and a politician.

According to the President of Imani Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, the civil society groups which include the CDD met the Speaker of Parliament to express their concerns over the seeming attempt by Mr Samuel Atta Akyea to shift focus from the terms of reference of the committee.

In an interview with Citi FM, Mr Cudjoe said the conduct of the chairman of the committee is affecting morale in the police service.

“We wanted to find out from the Speaker what the original terms of reference for the Committee were. Because we realized that the Committee chairman seems to be setting his own questions and answering them.

“The Speaker was categorical that well, look I gave the Chairman of the Committee specific terms of reference. To get the authenticity of the tape, basically, those comments that were made and the persons who made them,” Mr Cudjoe said.

He further noted: “To the extent that those who have been largely accused have admitted their voices and all, well, we thought that the matter must end. So we were very alarmed that if we did not take care and the way the Committee chairman was handling the issues. Be mindful that I’m not mentioning the Committee because the Committee Chairman is the one directing affairs. Even ranking members have had cause to walk away at some point in time.”

Meanwhile, lawyers of the Inspector General of Police have denied claims by Mr Atta Akyea that they retracted their accusation of bias against him during the in-camera hearing.

“Based on his actions we believe he is biased, we have said so. Many other people agree with us and indeed we think that it is sufficiently said and dealt with and we don’t need to do what he expects us to do in the committee room.

“So look, it is a simple matter. We’ve never backtracked and this issue should never dominate the substantive issues. We have never backtracked and we know what we’ve said when we said is what we said, we still stand by it. His actions show somebody who is biased and we hope that he will shift from that position,” a member of the IGP’s legal team Kofi Bentil told Joy FM.

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