Ghana’s Inspector General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare, has spoken out about the pain caused by what he claimed to be “wild allegations” made by some senior police officers against him and the effect on his family.
COP George Alex Mensah was among the officers captured on a leaked tape discussing the alleged plot to remove Dampare from the IGP position.
COP claimed that the IGP himself orchestrated the leaked tape after asking one of his boys to do the recording in the former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Daniel Bugri Naabu’s office.
Speaking at a parliamentary committee probing the issue, an emotional Dr Dampare revealed that the unsubstantiated claims had damaged not only his reputation, but that of the entire police service.
He confirmed his respect for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the police service, and his commitment to creating a “formidable service” for future generations. Dampare also acknowledged that his team was learning from their predecessors, aiming to become the best.
“Instead of them to focus on the matter, they came out with wild allegations, that touched my person, the police leadership that I lead, and the entirety of the police service. Until today I’m now being told that they have some evidence. Without a shred of evidence, at the time that they were making the allegations, not a shred of evidence.
“Those wild allegations without a shred of evidence have brought a lot of pain to me, my family across the country and especially my wife and children. The pain also to my team, my command, and thousands of police personnel. I, an innocent person focusing on my job and working with my team to keep the country safe, have to be called here to answer unsubstantiated claims. This is just not fair, are we killing patriotism that anybody can just wake up and make allegations?” the IGP bemoaned.
He emphasised the respect he had for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the police service, hence his decision to appear before the committee to answer the allegations levelled against him.
“I’m here I have no choice, I’m doing this because of the respect I have for myself, my family especially my wife and children, and for the respect, I have for institutions of state, and more importantly the respect I have for the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the respect I have for Ghanaians. I’m here to answer all your questions, on wild allegations by my brothers,” Dampare asserted.
Daniel Bugri Naabu revealed that he recorded the controversial leaked tape which captured a plot to remove the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, to protect his party.
He has subsequently given the committee a fresh tape detailing what took place in his Osu office where the recording took place.
Dr. Dampare disagreed with the assessment of the former Director-General of Police Operations, COP George Alex Mensah, that he is the worst IGP in the history of Ghana.
According to him, his administration, which includes COP Mensah, is working collectively to ensure that his team becomes the best in the history of the Police Service.
“If I am the worst, then collectively, all of us are the worst, including my brother who was serving in that capacity as a member of the team that I lead. So I think it was a slip of the tongue on his part,” Dampare said.
He further told the committee that his administration has carefully learned from its predecessors and is determined to create a formidable service for generations to come.
“We are on our way to being the best in terms of all those that have come before us, and we have a good reason for that. We are getting on to become the best in the history of the country. And the reason why we want to be the best under my leadership is that when most of my forebears were there, we saw what they were doing right and saw the challenges. We have the opportunities to learn from them and do things right.
“We don’t only want to be the best, but we want those who will come after us to perform better than us. And when that happens, we will end up building strong institutions. So it cannot be true that my administration is the worst.”
By Vincent Kubi