Samuel Atta Akyea, Chairman of the parliamentary ad-hoc committee probing the leaked tape on the alleged plot to oust the Inspector General of Police, has been accused by Dr. George Akuffo Dampare’s lawyer of pursuing “his own agenda.”
According to Kwame Gyan, lawyer for Dr. Dampare, the Abuakwa South lawmaker who is supposed to be neutral in the ongoing probe has compromised his neutrality and rather chosen to show his bias against his client since the commencement of the inquiry.
“He has his own agenda. He will be granting media interviews to the extent that after one sitting, he went out there and said the extended tape submitted by Bugri Naabu, which had not been played at the committee, has been doctored. Very prejudicial comments,” he told Accra-based JoyNews Monday, October 9, 2023.
He assured their outfit is not going to allow him continue carry himself in that manner henceforth, adding that they will ensure whatever he say or does is within the remit of the law, or else they will oppose.
He indicated that “because of respect for Parliament and the institution and persons on the Committee, I drop my guns, but I’m going to do what lawyers do, going forward.”
Meanwhile, Prof. Ransford Van Gyampo of the University of Ghana Political Science department has shared similar sentiments explaining why the Chairman of the committee must be changed.
According to the Professor, Mr. Atta Akyea who is chairing the committee is rather serving as a lead counsel for those implicated in the matter.
Speaking on The KeyPoints Saturday, September 16, 2023, Prof. Gyampo said it is not Atta Akyea’s birthright to chair the committee, and it would be better he stays off the probe to safeguard the integrity of the ongoing inquiry.
“It appears that rather than being a Chairman, he is playing a certain surreptitious role as a lead counsel for those who are making the allegations and those who are looking for the opportunity to serve as IGP so that they can subvert the will of the people and I think that this is what I’ve seen.
“I think that he does a lot of diservice to Ghana by sitting as chair of this committee and so it is not by force to chair this committee,” he was emphatic.
He was emphatic to say that lawyer Atta Akyea has taken sides to support the agenda of the persons implicated in the audio.
“I am accusing him of taking sides and so he should recuse himself. He doesn’t need to chair this committee,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the committee will resume its sitting today, Tuesday, October 10, after close to a month of suspension. But the rest of the probe will be in-camera due to security implications.
“All the witnesses will congregate with their lawyers and then they are supposed to give us the evidential support in relation to what they said openly and privately,” the chairman, Mr. Atta Akyea stated.
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