We won’t rig 2024 polls – Ambrose Dery on secret recording

On Tuesday, social media went wild with a secret recording of an alleged conversation between a senior police officer and a leading member of the ruling NPP over the purported dismissal of the IGP, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.

This generated intense public discussions, with some concluding that the voices were real and others rejecting them as doctored.

Below are excerpts from the secret recording:

Voice One: “Alhaji, my only problem… this current IGP if we do 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 and 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.”

Voice Two: “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 (it is ok)… Because we need to break this 8. That is important, we need to break the 8… Because I wouldn’t want doctor to become the flagbearer and then we lose the elections… ” 

First Voice: “This IGP is not correct, he won’t help us. Alhaji you have done politics, you know elections is not… sometimes elections mafia work is inside.”

Response “Not just sometimes, mafia work is inside. As for elections mafia work is involved.”

Voice One: “Alhaji whatever we need to do to get somebody else to supervise these elections (2024) we need to do. Because as we speak, this IGP is not fine with the military, he is fighting with the army. You find out, if any army officer is your friend, you call him and ask him that how do you see this IGP. He has been arresting military cars; commanders’ cars.” 

Voice One: “If you find out yourself, he is not in good terms with Dr Bawumia… find out if you are close to Dr Bawumia because he knows that Dr Bawumia did not recommend him as IGP… Dr Bawumia knows that if we take him to elections we’ll have difficulties.”

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ambrose Dery has rejected the recording as untenable, adding that there are no plans to oust Dr. Dampare from office.

According to him, the IGP has demonstrated since his appointment that he is a professional and will not connive with the government to rig the elections.

“Tapes will be useful if they relate to a crime, but otherwise, … I haven’t made that determination whether this is criminal or not…Let me make it absolutely clear that this government is not going to tamper with 2024 elections. Our president does not want to stay one more hour beyond his term. We are making sure that we have free and fair elections,” he said

On their part, NDC MP for Builsa North, James Agalga, has called for a thorough investigation into the matter against the backdrop of the incidents in the 2020 elections at Techiman.

During the recent Assin-North by-election, some leaders of the NPP accused the Police Administration of unfairness in the treatment of voters in their strongholds.

The NDC, on the other hand, lauded the police for their display of professionalism.