Security analyst, Adib Saani, has called for an investigation into the controversial leaked audio which sought to remove the current IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare from office.
According to him, the terms of reference for the ad-hoc committee probing the issues surrounding the leaked tape has been duly constituted by the Speaker of parliament as a fact-finding committee. He explained that in such rare cases of a fact-finding mission, new issues might crop up which the committee needs to follow the leads individually, to be able to make sense of them.
“To some extent, they seem to be exposed to a cacophony of issues, that it’s only right that they follow up on. That will to some extent widen their scope… I hope the committee’s scope takes a closer look at the plethora of issues that is coming up because of the leaked tape…”
Adib Saani
Mr Saani indicated that issues about the management skills of the IGP, promotions, arbitrariness, cronyism must be holistically tackled by the committee. He stated that it’s only right that when the scope of the committee is widened, they will be able to follow up on the matter to the end.
“So, in the end, we don’t just get to the bottom of this tape, we should be able to afford ourselves the opportunity to address those myriads of issues within the police service.”
Adib Saani
Fundamental issues within Police Service
Furthermore, Mr Saani explained that there’s no way one can delink politics from policing. However, he expressed concern over politics becoming so pervasive to the extent that it compromises the police’s ability to deliver on its mandate.
The security analyst equally noted that he has had the opportunity to speak with a lot of police officers who have certain fundamental issues within the police service. He revealed that as it stands, he has spoken with about 80 police officers who are in court over their promotions and other issues.
“The police service seems to have two faces – they have that pretty, external face where crime-fighting has proven effective, there’s visibility almost at every traffic intersection… However, there’s this other internal face of the police that needs to be looked at. I wouldn’t want to be a peddler of rumors, but a lot of issues are coming up since COP Alex Mensah appeared before the committee. It’s only proper that really, if we want to deal with this, we need to deal with it holistically.”
Adib Saani
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Atta Akyea, has revealed that the committee has uncovered a new recording relating to the leaked audio tape about a plot to oust the Inspector General of Police (IGP). He indicated that the committee will decide whether to hold an in-camera hearing or not, adding that they will be guided by the evidence.
“We have the benefit of a tape, on the assumption that it’s authentic. Members of the committee will have to listen to the tape and read the transcript, which will give us ideas on what to do next. First of all, do we bring all the stakeholders together with their lawyers for cross-examination and cross-firing to take place, while listening attentively? And then, after they have finished, will we have our turn… Are there matters which should not come into the public domain because of national security implications?”
Samuel Atta Akyea
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