In the ongoing parliamentary investigation into the contentious tape involving the Inspector General of Police, Lawyer Kwame Gyan, representing the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, has accused Chairman of the Committee Samuel Atta Akyea of showing bias against his client.
Lawyer Kwame Gyan claimed that the chairman, who is supposed to be neutral toward the witnesses, has shown prejudices.
The outspoken attorney claimed that Mr. Atta Akyea pursues his own agenda in the case during the public hearing.
“He has his own agenda. He will be granting media interviews to the extent that after one sitting, he went out there and said the extended tape submitted by Bugri Naabu, which had not been played at the committee, has been doctored. Very prejudicial comments”.
Lawyer Kwame Gyan
Mr. Gyan indicated that in the subsequent proceedings of the Committe such attitude of Mr. Atta Akyea, the chairman of the parliamentary committee will not be tolerated.
IGP Lawyer To Demand For Fairness
According to the Lawyer to the Inspector General of Police, he will ensure every action of the Chairman of the Committee will be in tandem with the law, or else it will be opposed strongly.
“Because of respect for Parliament and the institution and persons on the Committee, I drop my guns, but I’m going to do what lawyers do, going forward.”
Lawyer Kwame Gyan
Lawyer Kwame Gyan charged Mr. Atta-Akyea with giving negative interviews to the media following committee meetings. He accused Mr. Atta Akyea of creating stories without foundation and revealing information that he himself had kept for in-camera hearings.
Mr. Gyan is not the only one making this claim; political scientist Professor Ransford Gyampo previously made the similar claim.
According to him, the posture of the chairman during the hearing of the Inspector General of Police communicated his “personal bias against the IGP.”
He argued that it is clear that the Abuakwa South Member of Parliament has taken the side of the “bitter police officers” whose voices had been identified in the leaked tape, hence the call for him to step down.
“You aren’t smarter than Ghanaians. We can glean your partiality. Your body language, line of questioning and recurring remarks consistently hint at personal biases against the IGP. You don’t look like a credible chairman of any important committee. Rather, you look more like a defence counsel for the bitter police officers whose quest to be made IGP so they can subvert the will of the people has been exposed.”
Professor Ransford Gyampo
Meanwhile, the committee will resume its sitting today, Tuesday, October 10, after close to a month of suspension. But the rest of the probe will be in-camera due to security implications.
According to the Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Atta Akyea, all the witnesses will congregate with their lawyers and then they will be required to give the committee evidential support in relation to what they said openly and privately.
A recording purportedly featuring a police commissioner and a politician discussing a conspiracy to oust IGP Dampare from office emerged on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
As a result, the Minority Caucus in Parliament demanded an investigation into the audio that had been released, and on July 25, Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, established a seven-member bipartisan Committee to do so.
Three members from the Majority and Minority sides of the Parliament, as well as a technical specialist, make up the Committee.
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