Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, July 01, GNA – An ad-hoc committee of Parliament that investigated the alleged leaked tape of some three senior police officers plotting the removal of Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector General (IGP) of Police from office, has charged two of the officers who appeared before the Committee with perjury.
On the alleged leaked tape, the three officers-Commissioner of Police Alex George Mensah; Superintendent George Lysander Asare and Superintendent Emmanuel Eric Gyebi, were heard plotting the removal of the IGP with Mr. Daniel Bugri Naabu, a former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The Samuel Atta Akyea Committee report, sighted by the Ghana News Agency, said Superintendent George Lysander Asare and Superintendent Emmanuel Eric Gyebi lied in their responses to the Committee.
“…Supt. Gyebi during his testimony under oath, on 31 August 2023 denied ever speaking to Chief Bugri Naabu directly on his phone or the phone of Supt Asare. However, when he appeared before the Committee again on 10 October 2023, he changed his earlier testimony and affirmed that he indeed spoke to Chief Bugri Naabu on the phone,” it said.
“…Supt. Asare also in answering a question under oath posed by Hon Peter Lanchene Toobu on 4 September 2023 on whether he was present when Chief Bugri Naabu spoke to Supt Emmanuel Gyebi on the phone, he responded in the negative.
“However, he changed his initial response to this question to the affirmative when he appeared before the Committee on 10 October 2023,” the report added.
As a result, the Committee recommended that the two police officers be severely punished for their actions.
It said: “The Committee is of the view that Superintendent Asare and Superintendent Gyebi appeared to have acted in contempt of Parliament under Order 30 of the Standing Orders of Parliament (2000) as revised by Order 13 (1) of the Standing Orders of Parliament (2024).
“In this regard, the Committee thinks that the matter be referred to the Privileges Committee for appropriate action,” the report noted.
On Tuesday, July 11, 2023, a leaked audio recording, allegedly involved a Police Commissioner and a politician discussing a plot to remove IGP Dr Dampare from office before the 2024 general election circulated.
Consequently, the Minority Caucus in Parliament called for a probe into the matter.
Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin therefore constituted a seven-member bi-partisan committee to authenticate the audio or otherwise and report back to Parliament the first week the House convened from recess.
The committee was made up of three members each from the Majority and Minority sides of Parliament, and a technical person.
The members were Mr. Patrick Yaw Boamah, NPP MP for Okaikoi Central; Madam Ophelia Mensah, NPP MP for Mfantseman; Mr. Eric Opoku, NDC MP for Asunafo South, and Mr. Peter Lanchene Toobu, NDC MP for Wa West.
Dr Isaac Lartey Annang, a Lawyer and a human rights activist is the technical person appointed by Speaker Bagbin to assist the committee.
GNA