The question of what motivated the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to initiate investigations into the now christened �doctored tape� saga has become a source of controversy, as both the security agency and the Minister of Information are giving different accounts.
The Information Minister, Mahama Ayariga, and ASP Joseph Benefo Darkwah are giving conflicting accounts of how the police decided to get involved in the brouhaha surrounding the alleged doctoring of the President�s address to some party supporters at the Regional Coordinating Council, during his tour to the Ashanti Region ten days ago. The Police Chief, in an extensive interview with the host of PEACE FM morning show, Kwame Sefa Kayi, stated unequivocally that the police took a proactive decision to initiate an investigation into the tape which had been widely circulated in the media.
ASP Benefo Darkwah vehemently denied that the police passively decided to investigate upon a request by the Ministry of Information, insisting that the CID took its own initiative to enquire into the two tapes, and ascertain their authenticity.
According to him, the police, as an agency in charge of maintaining law and order, thought it expedient to institute an investigation into the matter, in order to unravel the mystery surrounding the circumstance under which the said tape was doctored.
ASP Benefo Darkwah, therefore, parried the assertion that their decision may have been influenced by the government, particularly the Information Ministry, which expressed concern about the alleged doctoring of the President�s address. But, that claim by the police investigative department that it launched its own investigation without anybody prompting them has been contradicted by the Minister of Information, Mahama Ayariga, during an interview on JOY FM last Saturday. Ayariga told the host of JOY FM�S flagship political programme, NEWSFILE, Samson Lardy, that he asked the police to investigate the matter to ascertain the truth.
Mahama Ayariga said his ministry requested the police to launch enquiries into the matter, as it was believed someone had deliberately tampered with the tape, just to incite the residents of the Ashanti Region against the President. The latest revelation by the Information Minister adds to the myriad of uncertainties surrounding the authenticity of the tape, and whether one of them had been doctored or not.
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