An audio recording has surfaced in which high-ranking officials of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and a senior member of the Ghana Police Service discuss a plan to replace the current Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, before the 2024 elections.
Unidentified people in the taped chat voiced their displeasure with the IGP for allegedly being unwilling to coordinate police operations with the goals of the ruling party. They voiced their disapproval of his management style and his supposed ties to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“Alhaji, my only problem… this current IGP. If we make a mistake and take him to the elections, it will not help us. It will not help us at all, and I will not mind if the position is not given to me, but that man is changed, because he will not help us, he will not help us at all… he won’t help the party at all.
“I know there are others who are also good for this position. If I don’t get and this man is changed and those people that we think they are our men get it, I will be happy… Because we need to break this 8. That is important, we need to break the 8… Because I wouldn’t want a doctor to become the flagbearer and then we lose the elections,” one of the men, who is reportedly a police officer in the audio, is heard saying.
According to the senior police officer who sounded interested in the IGP position but would not mind losing as long as a NPP IGP was placed, said manipulations are sometimes necessary to win elections. Therefore, they believed, it was impossible to achieve the NPP’s ‘Breaking the 8’ goal with Dampare in charge of the police force.
“This IGP is not correct; he won’t help us. Alhaji, you have done politics, you know elections is not just… elections, sometimes mafia work is inside… and this man sitting down up there will not help our party to do anything,” the supposed security official added.
To which the other, who introduces himself on the recording as a former NPP regional chairman, replies, “It’s not just sometimes, mafia work is inside. As for elections mafia work is involved.” therefore confirming the first man’s claim.
In reference to the recently concluded by-election in Assin North, an unnamed security officer stated, “We should have selected our own people security personnel to go there so that we work with the party over there so that they know how to do their things.”
The supposed senior NPP official agreed. “I will talk to the chairman and the general secretary myself… they should stay in the headquarters. They will go and see our plans and work to destroy it,” the supposed senior NPP member responded.
The alleged security officer continued, “This current man will not help us. Me, I have been an NPP member a long time before I even joined the service, and now we need… because if we don’t break the 8… that is my only objective.”
When asked why they did not speak up during the IGP’s nomination, he answered, “We said it they didn’t believe us… We told them that we will regret it… They thought because we’re also fighting for position, that is why we were destroying him. But when he started arresting party people, that is where they saw that, hmmm… We said this and we said we told you. And we are still sitting down watching. If we watch and go to opposition, trouble.”
Listen to the full audio below
