An alleged secret audio recording detailing a plot to oust the current IGP, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, from office before the 2024 elections has surfaced.
The alleged conspirators are said to be high-ranking members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Ghana Police Service.
Secret recording of purported plot towards IGP Dampare’s removal leaks
The unnamed participants in the audio chat complained that the IGP was allegedly unwilling to coordinate the operations of the police force with those of the ruling party.
They voiced worries about his leadership style and his alleged affiliation with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the main opposition party.
“I am aware that there are others qualified for this post. If I do not get it and this man changes and those who we believe to be our men do, [I will be pleased]… We must break this 8 because That is crucial; we must break the eight Because I wouldn’t want a 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 8’ 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 are not just elections; sometimes mafia work is inside. And this man sitting down up there will not help our party 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 top NPP official agreed.
“I will talk to the chairman and the general secretary myself… They should stay at the headquarters. They will go and see our plans and work to destroy them,” the supposed senior NPP member responded.
The purported security official further said, “This current man will not help us. 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; they didn’t believe us.
“We told them that we would regret it. They thought that because we were also fighting for position, that is why we were destroying him. But when he started arresting party people, that is where they saw that, Hmmm, we said this, and we said we told you. And we are still sitting down and watching. If we watch and go to opposition, trouble.”
The emergence of this alleged plot raises questions about the dynamics between political parties and security agencies in Ghana.
And while the veracity of the claims and the extent of any potential plot as contained in the recording remain uncertain, there have been reactions trickling in already from some quarters, including Parliament.
Member of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Peter Lanchene Toobu, himself an ex-policeman, says any efforts to remove IGP Dr. Dampare to enable the NPP to rig the 2024 election will be fiercely resisted.
The former Police Officer warned that such an action could seriously put the 4th Republic at risk.
Speaking to JoyNews, Peter Toobu asked the IGP to stay focused.
“Whoever thinks that way is undemocratic in the brain because if somebody thinks that the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-election type of violence can lead the NPP to break the 8, then it means that we don’t want the 4th Republic.
“Because if anything like the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-election resurfaces in the 2024 elections, our democracy will be gone. Nobody will sit and take that,” he cautioned.
SOURCE: myjoyonline.com