Kofi Bentil, a Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, has urged the Presidency to take seriously the recommendations of a Parliamentary Committee that investigated the ousting of the Police boss.

He emphasized the importance of handling the sensitive position of the Inspector General of Police with care, stating that unfounded allegations must not be tolerated.

“I trust that the executive will take the recommendations seriously, not just discipline those culpable but we need to strengthen institutions. There was an error inherent in Parliament usurping the right of the police Council,” he told Evans Mensah on PM Express.

Mr Bentil, a private legal practitioner who defended IGP Dr George Akuffo Dampare, added, “When you have certain police officers jumping over and coming to you and trying to try their boss and then you accept it [it is wrong]. We should take it back to where it should be.”

He stressed that any criminal aspects of the investigation and other punishable offences should be prosecuted.

His comments follow the majority report from Parliamentary Committee members who investigated a leaked tape that revealed a plot by senior police officers to remove the IGP. Chaired by Abuakwa South lawmaker Samuel Atta Akyea, the committee found that officers COP Alex George Mensah, Supt. George Lysander Asare, and Supt. Emmanuel Eric Gyedi had misconducted themselves, which constitutes a major offense under Police regulations. They recommended sanctions for these officers according to the Police disciplinary procedure.

The committee asked the House to 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 Gyedi 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 which is likely to involve him in political controversy or to lead to his taking improper advantage of his position in the Police Service.'

Read more: IGP leaked tape: Majority of Committee members cite COP Mensah and 2 others for professional misconduct

“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.

Bentil highlighted the need to learn from this incident to ensure that the country “never puts the sitting IGP in the middle of his job, in a predicament where his junior officers have come to tell you things which were not true as proven.

“And then he has to stop his work to come and do this work. We shouldn't do that.”

He noted that no impediments are preventing the executive from carrying out the recommendations.

“The rules of the Police Service make it untenable for the sitting officers to continue to be working under the IGP. The president is essentially the boss of the police to a certain extent, but I think with a number of such actions the President has to talk to the Police Council,” he said.

Bentil affirmed that IGP Dampare is in charge, and when tasked to carry out the sanctions, “nobody should come and say this is a witch hunt.”