The Interior Minister, Mr. Ambrose Dery, has stated categorically that “there’s no plot by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to remove the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, from office.
This comes following a leaked tape in circulation purportedly by a senior police officer and some politicians scheming to oust the IGP.
Reacting to the statement, Mr. Dery said the IGP has been exceptional in the delivery of his duties, and there are no efforts to take him out of office.
The unidentified fifty-minute audio contains a recorded conversation expressing frustration over the IGP’s alleged reluctance to align the police force’s activities with the interests of the ruling party.
The audio raised concerns about his leadership style and rumoured association with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“I know there are others who are also good for this position. If I don’t get and this man is changed and those people that we think they are our men get it, [I will be happy.] Because we need to break this eight. That is important, we need to break the eight. Because I wouldn’t want the doctor to become the flagbearer, and then we lose the elections,” one of the men who is reportedly a police officer in the audio is heard saying.
As a result, they concluded that achieving the NPP’s ‘Breaking the Eight agenda would be impossible with Dr. Dampare as the head of the police.
“This IGP is not correct, he won’t help us. Alhaji you have done politics, you know elections is not just elections, sometimes mafia work is inside and this man sitting down up there will not help our party to do anything,” the supposed security official added.
The other, who identified himself in the tape as a former NPP Regional Chairman, corroborates his statement by responding “It’s not just sometimes, mafia work is inside. As for elections mafia work is involved.”
Regarding the just-ended Assin North bye-election, the unnamed security official explained that “we should have selected our own people security personnel to go there so that we work with the party over there so that they know how to do their things.” The purported NPP official agreed.
“I will talk to the chairman and the general secretary myself; they should stay in the headquarters. They will go and see our plans and work to destroy it,” the supposed senior NPP member responded.
The purported security official further said “This current man will not help us. Me, I have been an NPP (member) a long time before I even joined the service, and now we need… because if we don’t break the 8… that is my only objective.”
When asked why they did not speak up during the IGP’s nomination, he answered “We said it, but they didn’t believe us.”
“We told them that we will regret it, but they thought because we were also fighting for the same position that is why we were destroying him. But when he started arresting party people that is where they saw that hmm, what we told them was true.”