Lawyers for the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, are insisting that Samuel Atta Akyea, the chairman of Parliament’s ad hoc committee probing the alleged tape plotting his removal is biased.
The lawyers say they stand by their allegations and will not backtrack on same.
They argue that recent developments during the probe have validated their concerns.
This assertion comes on the back of Mr Atta Akyea’s claim that, the lawyers failed to raise these allegations before the committee during the last in-camera hearing.
But a spokesperson for the IGP’s legal team, Kofi Bentil says they remain focused with the conviction that their client will be vindicated.
“We haven’t backtracked, and we know what we said and when we said what we said. We still stand by it that his actions show someone’s bias. We hope that he will shift from that position, alright. Everything we have suggested has come to pass.
The last time he said we should go and come back to hear new evidence, it was suggested to him by my senior counsel that no, why don’t you take the evidence and if it is serious call us back? he said no, we should come back. We went, and the evidence was that nothing was brought.”
So we just went, spent the time there and walked away and now things have been suspended. The civil society leaders have expressed their concerns, everybody is expressing concerns on how things are being conducted,” he said.
Recently, some civil society organisations reported Samuel Atta Akyea to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.
The groups, including Imani Ghana, CDD-Ghana and others had met the Speaker to make their concerns known.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, the President of Imani Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe said Mr Atta Akyea is shifting the committee’s focus from its terms of reference.
According to him, this is affecting the mood and the morale within the Ghana Police Service, hence the need for the Speaker to immediately address this.
Mr Cudjoe insisted that the Abuakwa South lawmaker seems to be working as a judge in his courtroom.
“We wanted to find out from the Speaker what the original terms of reference for the Committee were. Because we realized that the Committee chairman seems to be setting his questions and answering them.”
“The Speaker was categorical that well, look, I gave the Chairman of the Committee specific terms of reference. To get the authenticity of the tape, basically, those comments that were made and the persons who made them,” Mr Cudjoe said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Parliament’s ad hoc committee, Samuel Atta Akyea says, no one can push them to hurriedly do a shoddy job in the investigations.
The committee is currently scrutinizing the evidence presented before it to finalize its report.
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