Leaked tape saga: The voice is Ofosu-Ampofo's – Victor Smith

Ghana’s former Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK), Mr Victor Smith, has said the tape recording that captured the alleged voice of his party’s National Chairman, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, inciting communicators of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Jean Mensa; and the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Prof Emmanuel Asante, amidst plots of kidnappings in the country, is actually Mr Ofosu-Ampofo's.

Mr Smith told Accra100.5FM’s Kwabena Prah Jnr (The Don) on Ghana Yensom on Monday, 17 June 2019 that he has known Mr Ofosu-Ampofo for a long time to be able to recognise his voice, hence his conclusion that the voice he heard on the tape is the NDC Chairman’s.

Mr Smith also noted that he does not believe the tape was doctored as is being claimed by some members of the party.

On the said tape, the voice, said by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service to be Mr Ofosu-Ampofo’s is captured telling the party’s communicators at a meeting that: “We’re going to take her [EC boss] to the cleaners.”

“As for the EC chair, we must wage a relentless war on this EC Chair. Me, she doesn’t want to see my face,” the voice said.

The voice also gave his blessing to the party communicators to insult Most Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante.

“For the first time, I’ll endorse insulting the National Peace Council Chair,” the voice, which Mr Ofosu-Ampofo’s lawyers and the party have said is doctored is heard saying.

The alleged meeting between the chairman and members of the party was aimed at strategising ahead of the 2020 elections.

In one of the denials, the National Communication Officer of the NDC, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, asked the public to disregard the tape, describing it as “fake”.

According to Mr Gyamfi, the “doctored tape” is aimed at swaying attention from investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ latest documentary, which exposes corrupt acts of officials to fight illegal small-scale mining popularly known as ‘galamsey’.

“It is a doctored tape, it is totally fake and we will entreat the people of this country to treat it with the contempt it deserves,” Mr Gyamfi told Class 91.3FM on Wednesday, 27 February 2019.

However, Mr Smith, who is a former spokesperson for NDC founder Jerry John Rawlings: “The tape was on Ghanaweb and everywhere. I have just listened to it and I think it was his voice”.

“Whatever I heard was his voice, unless somebody can convince me that they can doctor things to make it sound like my voice; and that much I don’t know whether someone has done that before.”

When asked what makes him think it was Ofosu-Ampofo’s voice following the denial by the NDC officials, he said: “I have known him long enough.”