COP Alex Mensah, one of the police officers at the centre of the leaked tape controversy aimed at ousting the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has questioned the credibility of a report circulating in the media regarding the work of the parliamentary committee that investigated the matter.
According to him, he will only give credence to a report signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Atta Akyea.
“We don’t need to discuss this. It is a useless thing that is just circulating. It’s a leaked report. It’s not the report. Let the report be filed at the main Parliament. Don’t waste our time on this. I will only speak on a report that Atta Akyea has presented to Parliament. Why didn’t the chairman sign? Because there is something wrong with the report,” he said.
Last year, Parliament set up a committee to investigate the content of a leaked tape relating to plans to oust IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare.
COP Alex George Mensah, Supt. George Lysander Asare and Supt. Emmanuel Eric Gyebi, together with former Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bugri Naabu were caught on tape orchestrating the removal of the IGP.
Last week, the media intercepted a purported report of the committee.
Somehow, the report was not signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Atta Akyea.
According to the report, the majority of the parliamentary committee members who investigated the leaked tape saga recommended sanctions for the three officers involved.
These members found that officers COP Alex George Mensah, Supt. George Lysander Asare, and Supt. Emmanuel Eric Gyebi had misconducted themselves, constituting a major offence under police regulations.
They recommended that these officers be sanctioned according to the police disciplinary procedure.
They requested that the House communicate its findings to the President, in line with Section 19 of the Police Service Act, 1970 (Act 350), to ensure appropriate sanctions are imposed.
“The House should communicate its findings to the President pursuant to Section 19 of the Police Service Act, 1970 (Act 350) which vests disciplinary powers in the President, to determine the appropriate sanctions for COP George Alex Mensah, Supt George Lysander Asare and Supt Eric Emmanuel Gyebi who appear to have misconducted themselves professionally by breaching among others the following: Section 17(d) of the Police Service Act, 1970 (Act 350) which states that:
“It shall be misconduct for a police officer to engage in any activity outside his official duties that is likely to involve him in political controversy or lead to his taking improper advantage of his position in the police service.
“Regulation 82(1) (c) of the Police Service Regulations, 2012 (C.I 76) which states that: “It is a major offence for an officer to engage in an activity outside official duties which is likely to “Involve the officer in political controversy or lead to the officer taking improper advantage of that officer’s position in the service,” the report said.
However, COP Alex Mensah said that as a retired police officer, he is no longer bound by police service regulations.
“If they want to send it to the President, they can send it to the President. Whatever the President decides to do, let him do it. At the appropriate time, if we need to do something, we will also do it. But as I speak, I am not a police officer, and no policeman can call me for any disciplinary action,” COP Mensah said in an interview on 3FM.