NDC Goon Henry Osei-Akoto Vindicates Akuffo-Dampare

He ought to have discussed his downright obtuse logic behind the widely alleged sudden return and the immediate or prompt arrest of the prime suspect in the leaking of the photographs that led to the murder of Mr. Ahmed Hussein-Suale, the colleague and employee of Mr. Anas Aremeyaw Anas, proprietor of the Mahama-patronized Tiger-Eye Private Investigators Company Limited, on January 16, 2019, on the sprawling compound of the Madina, Accra, family homestead of the victim.

We are here, of course, referring to Mr. Henry Osei-Akoto, described by the media as a leading member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), who has reportedly accused the recently retired Inspector-General of the Ghana Police Service, Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, of gross professional negligence and incompetence because during the more than three years that he occupied the helm of the affairs of the aforementioned national security establishment, Dr. Dampare had not been able to apprehend and promptly bring the unidentified suspects in the point-blank shooting death of Mr. Hussein-Suale to book or justice (See “Ahmed Suale suspect arrested 3 days after Dampare's exit; What was he doing these 3 years? — Osei Akoto quizzes” Modernghana.com 3/18/25).

By the way, the original title of this column was “NDC Stalwart Henry Osei-Akoto May Be Mildly Retarded.” As usual, Yours Truly did some basic Fact-Checking on the historical background and the national-security context and the circumstances under which Mr. Hussein-Suale lost his life and immediately arrived at the indisputable conclusion that, in fact, on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, when the Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ then colleague and employee was killed, it was Mr. David Asante-Apeatu, an Akufo-Addo appointee, who was the Inspector-General (IGP) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), and not Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, shortly and immediately to be followed into office by Mr. James Oppong-Boanuh, who held the post of IGP from October 2019 through August 2021. It was not until July 21, 2021, that is, exactly two years after the Mafia-style slaying of Mr. Hussein-Suale, that Dr. Akuffo-Dampare was duly sworn into office as the substantive Chief Constable or Inspector-General of the Ghana Police Service.

So, why has the National Democratic Congress’ Mr. Osei-Akoto decided to put the blame of the failure of our national security agencies to apprehend and promptly bring the criminal suspects in the grisly murder of Mr. Suale to justice squarely on the doorstep and on the person of arguably the best qualified and best educated man and candidate to have ever held the highly sensitive office of Inspector-General of the Ghana Police Service? There is obviously an epic failure of both logic and common sense here.

Interestingly and significantly, though, such failure actually vindicates the professional competence and integrity of Dr. Dampare and seriously undercuts whatever motive or motives President John “Pope Clearing Agent of Corruption” Dramani Mahama had for either removing or dismissing IGP Dampare from the post which he had been holding for more than three years, regardless of the fact that traditionally, the politically determined and highly politically charged appointment of the Inspector-General of the Ghana Police Service has almost invariably ended with the proverbial “Changing of the Guard,” that is, a change of government. What is equally significant to note here is the fact that the new government is statutorily or constitutionally not obligated to explain to either the incumbent IGP or the General Ghanaian Public why the IGP is being relieved of his post.

Which is why it is absolutely and completely beside the point for Mr. Osei-Akoto or anybody else, for that matter, to capriciously and cynically speculate over the fact of whether Dr. Dampare was let go as IGP by President Mahama because the former had woefully failed to creditably acquit himself one way or the other. In reality, what the forensically telling and critical decision of Mr. Daniel Owusu Koranteng, the sometime Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ Tiger-Eye Company employee, who had allegedly fled the country as investigative sleuths closed in on him, to return to the country barely three days after Dr. Dampare had been relieved of his post by President Mahama, ought to tell Dampare detractors like Mr. Osei-Akoto about the fearsome formidability and the inimitable professional competence of IGP Dampare to felons and hardened criminal suspects like Mr. Daniel Owusu Koranteng - aka Mr. Akwasi Amakye.

Even more telling, the decision by the prime criminal suspect in the murder of Mr. Ahmed Hussein-Suale to return from his fugitive’s hideout abroad back to Ghana within 72 hours after the official removal of IGP Dampare from his post, ought to raise concerns among all progressive-minded and forward-looking Ghanaian citizens vis-a-vis the fact that a forensically proven felon like Mr. Owusu Koranteng, who had reportedly taken refuge in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, should feel comfortable and even safe under the watch of the newly elected Mahama-led National Democratic Congress. Am I missing something here, Dear Readers?

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD
Professor Emeritus, Department of English
SUNY-Nassau Community College
Garden City, New York
E-mail: [email protected]