Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu says the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, cannot be removed as per the public sympathy he has courted after appearing before the seven-member ad hoc committee probing a leaked tape about him.
Mr Kpebu says the court of public opinion is favouring Dr Akuffo Dampare.
He insists, however, that the IGP is not an angel and the issues that have emerged at the committee sittings must be addressed.
“As for IGP Dampare, we all know he has done a good job and from the way the conversation is going, naturally, he can’t be removed anymore,” he said on The Keypoints on TV3/3FM on Saturday, September 16.
“The President, it is too late in the day because right now the public opinion is showing that by and large we support him but he is not an angel, so where he has issues they should be dealt with.
“They should be dealt with. We can’t just say because he did a Yeoman’s job in Assin North, we should sweep everything under the carpet. No.
“The issues of this promotion and the corruption around it is a big problem, so let’s confront it.”
Witnesses before the committee have made incriminating revelations about the Ghana Police Service.
In his witness before the committee, an outgoing Director-General of Operations of the Ghana Police, George Alex Mensah, who is also a Commissioner of Police (COP) and whose voice was heard on the leaked tape, accused the IGP of mismanaging the Service.
After calling the tape “doctored”, he described the current IGP as the worst in his 31 years of active service.
“What I said yesterday if you give me the chance today I will say so again,” COP Alex Mensah said on Friday, September 1.
“He is not managing the service well. For me, for the 31 years that I have been in the service, I can tell you he is the worst IGP we have ever had.”
This was responded to by Dr Akuffo Dampare on Tuesday, September 12 when he appeared before the committee.
“Honourable Chair, I think probably my brother wanted to say I am the best and he mixed it because the records are there for everybody to see,” he said.
But Mr Kpebu said a lot of things are going wrong within the Service.
He cited how some junior officers are promoted above their seniors, the subject of a court case against the IGP.
“It is good that we go into it. There you see the politics, there you will see favouritism, there you will see cronyism.”
The seven-member bi-partisan committee is expected to present a report to plenary for consideration.
Chaired by Abuakwa South Member of Parliament (MP), the bi-partisan committee started in-camera sittings on Wednesday, September 13, a day after the IGP made a public appearance.
But it had to go on recess to resume for the majority of members to participate in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise. Sittings will resume on Monday, October 2.