The Chairman of Parliament's ad-hoc committee investigating the leaked tape discussing the ouster of the IGP, Samuel Atta Akyea has revealed that some senior police officers have petitioned the committee.

While the content of their petition remains undisclosed, Mr. Atta Akyea says the committee is resolute in its commitment to ensure that the truth prevails.

This new twist comes after four key witnesses appeared before the committee.

“Whilst we were sitting, the petitions were brought to us. We have not even read them but trust us as a committee that there is nothing of consequence that we will brush aside. It is going to be a very comprehensive process so if people want to aid us to do our fact-finding, we will not block them.

"But first of all, the rest are doing some serious reading of what is supposed to be the original tape and that will inform our next activity and what material is different from what we have used and then we will do what we call the proper analysis of the new tape and that will inform what we will do next."

“If your name is on the tape and your role is significant when we are doing the proper fact-finding, then it is automatic that you will have to appear here before the committee. But the issue for determination, we will all decide if we do an obvious interrogation like the one we are doing on-camera or we do in-camera because of national security," Atta Akyea explained.

Mr. Atta Akyea also added that the committee will delve into a suit filed against IGP George Akuffo Dampare regarding promotions within the service.

“We have also just seen that some police officers have even taken the IGP to court in relation to their promotion. So I have instructed for the writ so we know the content of what is pending in court.”

But former Chairman for Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Inusah Fuseini says the level of partisanship exhibited by the police witnesses before the committee is troubling.

“The Police Service which is a bureaucracy is divided between the NPP and the NDC. That should pose a danger to all of us. They are for law enforcement or to ensure law and order, they are also to protect property and people. They have values.

“They serve with integrity but if now these values or interests are compromised then we are not sure that an establishment like the Police Service which is a state establishment can protect the citizens or the state. This means that the institution is decaying, unable to perform the functions for which it was established to do, largely because of the undermining in the Police Service.”

Meanwhile, security analyst, Dr. Ishmael Norman is warning that there is a high possibility of hostility in the Ghana Police Service which must be addressed.

“This is the moment for the government and the Interior Ministry and Parliament to really get involved and understand what are the systemic problems, not just from Dampare, but what are the systemic problems that make so many police officers unhappy.

“If people don’t have a way of talking about their issues or grievances for redress, if people cannot have access to the courthouses because the money is too much, maybe everything takes so long, somebody may want to go hostile.

"We don’t want to create a workplace where people don’t feel comfortable, and don’t forget many of these officers carry side arms. So when somebody’s issues are not being addressed and decides to go hostile, we wouldn’t like the results. So this is the moment and the time for them to put all of this hostility under cover and handle the matter. Everybody must behave properly,” he stressed.