Commissioner of Police (COP) George Alex Mensah has denied plotting to remove the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.
COP Alex Mensah, who is a former Director-General of Technical at the Ghana Police Service, also told the parliamentary committee probing a viral leaked tape that the IGP is mismanaging the Police Service.
COP Mensah made these comments on Thursday, August 31, while appearing before a parliamentary committee probing a viral leaked tape in which he is heard in a conversation with the former Northern regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, about the possible removal of the IGP.
“Dampare is not managing the Police Service well and the majority of police officers are not happy. You can call the police officers underground and they will tell you,” he said.
COP Mensah said the tape had been doctored and did not accurately reflect the content of the original conversation. He also said he had no plan to remove the IGP and that he did not have the power to do so.
“...This tape that was played today, to me was an edited tape, I have not heard any unedited tape for me to talk about as I sit here,” COP Mensah said
He added “The tape that I heard today, there are so many things in that tape that I don’t remember and there are so many things that we discussed that are not on the tape. I’ve met Bugri Naabu four times and we have discussed many things some of them private things that I am not ready to discuss in public
“I had a meeting with Bugri Naabu but I don’t remember having any plan to remove the IGP because I don’t remove IGPs.”
Bugri Naabu, however, has confirmed the authenticity of the tape and said that COP Mensah wanted him to discuss the possible removal of Dampare because he was not likely to help the NPP win the 2024 elections.
COP Mensah said that he has met with Bugri Naabu four times, but that they have discussed many different things, some of which are private and he is not ready to discuss in public.
He also said that he is a politician and works in the interest of a political party, but he did not disclose which party he supports.
Bugri Naabu had earlier stated that he recorded the conversation with COP Mensah in his private office in Osu.
The parliamentary committee is expected to submit its report on the matter to Parliament in the coming weeks.
Source: Graphiconline.com
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My observations from proceedings so far indicates that COP Peter Mensah is bitter he couldn't get the IGP job and unfortunately for him he may never be an IGP since he will be retiring in a few weeks time. The politicization of state institutions is happening because it is the president who appoints heads of state institutions. The assumption then is that, who ever gets an appointment as head of any state institution is a member of the political party who's president appointed him or her. Everyone who is abreast with security issues in Ghana is aware that COP Kofi Boakye was on top of security in the police service but he was left 'to sit on the bench' till he went on retirement because the government of the day saw him as someone who doesn't belong to their camp so he went away with all the security strategies under his sleeves. Why can't we all agree that, the senior most person in the army, police, immigration, fire service, customs should take over when there is a vacancy. The senior most police officer should be the IGP, in this case ,every police officer in Ghana will know that if IGP is not there, this person is the next in command unless the person retires before a vacancy is available in which case he/she cant blame anybody. How will the senior most police officer who was the first to rise to a commissioner of police (COP) feel as he/she watches as his/her junior who rose to same rank later on is made the IGP? It is also a fact that the 1992 constitution was made to satisfy one person ( Rawlings) . Ghana has satisfied him enough. Now that he is gone and will never come back to the scene, it is high time the whole of the 1992 constitution is reviewed. The powers of the president of Ghana are just too many thus the pull him down and sycophancy in state institutions just to win favors.
So this a police commissioner who wants to become IGP so he could connive with a sitting government to rig an election! I think his career as a police officer at this point should be over! And he doesn't even seem bothered about these "confessions"! So what is different about this and the army taking over? To rig an election is as treasonable as it is to stage a coup: both upstage the sovereign will of the people through universal adult suffrage deciding our democratic governance. He should be summarily dismissed! He is unfit to be in the Ghana police service!