The Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, on Tuesday, September 12, appearing before the Parliamentary Committee probing the leaked audio in connection with an alleged conspiracy by his senior officers to remove him from office nearly broke down into tears as he expressed disappointment in them for dragging his name into the scandal.
Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare is currently facing the Committee after the senior officer, COP Alex Mensah being interrogated by the Committee members ahead of the summon of the IGP accused the latter of masterminding the secret audio recording which revealed the plot by him and Supt. George Asare to oust Dr. Dampare.
They also accuse the IGP of nepotism and mistreating Police officers as well as working against the ruling New Patriotic Party to lose the 2024 elections.
The IGP, speaking to the Committee, minced no words as he disclosed how pained he is due to this unexpected development.
He described the senior officers as his brothers saying "George is my big brother. Gyebi is my kid brother. Asare is my brother. The beautiful thing is this, honourable Chair, we've been together for far long", so wondered why they would bring his reputation and image into disrepute.
"...all of a sudden, this matter came up and the matter was about finding out what has happened and who said what and where it came from. My brothers were given an opportunity to come and speak and they did speak and made an indication that, yes, they were involved in what is happening and all of sudden, instead of them to focus on that matter, they came out with wild allegations that touch my person, the Police leadership that I lead and the entirety of the Police Service without until today that I'm being told that now they have some evidence, without a shred of evidence, honourable Chair, at the time they were making it [without a shred of evidence", he told the Committee.
He stressed "Those wild allegations without a shred of evidence has brought a lot of pain to myself, my family across the country and especially my wife and children that you are so patriotic because you believe in what you call 'pan-Ghanaianism' where you think that because of your multi-ethnic, everybody you see, as long as the person is a Ghanaian, is your brother or sister, mother or father, Uncle or Aunty".
He labelled the allegations as baseless, emphasizing it has also brought pain to "my Command, my leaders, my team that we work together that we all know and the pain to thousands of Police people who are appreciating the strides that we are making in transforming the organization to be the best institution in the country and a reference point for the rest of the world".
"They came, made all these allegations, in order to cover up probably the shame associated with what they got themselves involved in the first place and I, an innocent person, focusing on my job, working in consent with my team and all Commands across the country to keep the country safe and make it to be at peace with itself; I've asked to come and answer to these allegations which are wild, baseless", he concluded.