Civil society groups have held a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to express their concerns regarding perceived bias in the leadership of the special parliamentary committee responsible for investigating a leaked tape related to an alleged plot to remove the Inspector General of Police involving certain police officers and a politician.
The President of Imani Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, confirmed the meeting and revealed that various civil society organizations, including the Center for Democratic Development (CDD), had engaged the Speaker to voice their worries about the conduct of Mr. Samuel Atta Akyea, the committee's chairman.
They expressed concerns that Mr. Atta Akyea was deviating from the committee's original terms of reference.
In an interview with Citi FM, Mr. Cudjoe highlighted the impact of the committee chairman's actions on the morale within the police service, stating, "We wanted to find out from the Speaker what the original terms of reference for the Committee were. Because we realized that the Committee chairman seems to be setting his own questions and answering them.
"The Speaker was categorical that, well, I gave the Chairman of the Committee specific terms of reference. To authenticate the tape, essentially, the comments that were made, and the individuals responsible for those comments,"Mr. Cudjoe continued,
"To the extent that those who have been largely accused have admitted their voices and all, we believed that the matter should be concluded. So, we were very alarmed at the way the Committee chairman was handling the issues. I want to make it clear that I'm not mentioning the entire committee, as the Committee Chairman directs the affairs. Even ranking members have walked away from proceedings at certain points," he added.a
On the other hand, lawyers representing the Inspector General of Police (IGP) have refuted claims made by Mr. Atta Akyea that they withdrew their accusation of bias against him during an in-camera hearing.
Kofi Bentil, a member of the IGP's legal team, stated, "Based on his actions, we believe he is biased, and we have stated this. Many others agree with us, and indeed we think that this matter has been sufficiently addressed. We don't see the need to engage with him as he expects us to do in the committee room."
"We've never backtracked, and this issue should not dominate the substantive matters. We stand by what we've said, and his actions indicate bias. We hope he will reconsider his position, Bentil added
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Civil society groups with Alban Bagbin