Prof Opoku Antwi ; Calls for Accountability Amidst Police Witness Testimonies
The Dean of the School of Business at Academic City University, Professor Enoch Opoku Antwi, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the bi-partisan committee appointed by the Speaker to probe a leaked audio recording concerning a plot to remove the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Prof. Opoku Antwi voiced his concerns about the committee’s proceedings, emphasizing that the testimonies given by police witnesses have displayed insubordination, warranting immediate action.
The professor highlighted that the situation has been exacerbated due to the allocation of appointment powers to the President, as opposed to the Police Council, for the position of the head of the Ghana Police Service.
In his own words on The Keypoints program on TV3/3FM, he stated, “People should be told in plain fact that if you belong to the Police Service or any Service for that matter, and unfortunately, our constitution makes it in such a way that, and I have said many times at various platforms, that it is not appropriate for the President alone to appoint over 7,000 people.”
He continued,
“We have the Police Council, so why wouldn’t the Police Council appoint their own IGP. That is causing the problem.”
Prof. Opoku Antwi had earlier expressed his skepticism about the committee, describing it as “a waste of everybody’s time.”
These remarks follow the appearance of four witnesses before the committee in a public inquiry.
The first witness, Daniel Bugri Naabu, a former Northern Region Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, admitted to recording the conversation with senior police officers. He explained,
“The reason for recording this tape is that they are coming to tell me to go and tell the President something that they know what they are saying, and it is either I don’t go to tell the President and then I and my party suffer for it, and if I also go to talk to the President, it is good to tell him the right thing, and since I cannot keep everything they were telling me at that point, it was very good to record, and I know the President that if I go and tell him something, and it turns not to be true, next time he won’t give me respect.”
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However, the other three witnesses – George Alex Mensah, George Lysander Asare, and Emmanuel Eric Gyebi – have rejected the recording, describing it as “edited” and “doctored.” The committee, chaired by Abuakwa South Member of Parliament (MP) Samuel Atta Akyea, is proceeding to an in-camera hearing after several days of public testimonies from the four witnesses.
Comprising seven members in total, the committee, tasked by the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, is investigating the authenticity of the leaked audio recording, the conspiracy to remove the current IGP, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, and any other matters contained in the audio recording. They will also recommend sanctions for individuals found culpable where appropriate.