Awuku’s alleged tape; potential security threat - Bombande

Executive Director of the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP), Dr. Emmanuel Bombande, says the recent leaked tape in circulation on the air waves concerning Sammy Awuku should not stray the focus of the nation from the Supreme Court ruling.

According to him, the tape, though a potential threat to the stability of the country, must be well-managed by the security forces in a manner that does not affect the verdict of the nine-member panel sitting on the election case.

It could be recalled that the NPP Deputy Communications Director was allegedly caught on a secret tape lambasting some leading members of his party and also assuring the party members that the Judges, with exception of Justice William Atuguba, have thrown their weight behind the petitioners.

The tape recording was done during his alleged meeting with members of the New Patriotic Party branch in the United Kingdom.

Sammy Awuku has, however, denied the allegations leveled against him, claiming that the tape has been doctored to dent his image and, therefore, warned the media not to make any reportage in connection with it or else face him in court.

Nonetheless, some political commentators have picked on him, backing calls for investigations to be held into the alleged tape.

Speaking in an interview with Radio Gold, Mr. Bombande described the content of the tape as ‘conspiracy’, but cautioned security agencies and the entire nation not to lose sight of the court decision yet to be made on Thursday, August 29, 2013.

To him, looking at the severity of the content of the tape, it is incumbent on the security agencies to invest time to investigate it and further ensure that it does not obscure the verdict in any way.

“The potential threat to peace is very high…I think that we are in the week where this tape should not take people away from focusing on what is important this week, which is Thursday. And to that extent, the agencies now need to look at the veracity of this and treat it in terms of what it means to continue to sustain our peace and stability, they do that…

“It is not something that you could easily say must be dealt with in the next 48 hours or 72 hours. It is something that requires the time for it to be dealt with thoroughly for it to unfold, so that at the end of the day, it goes beyond how this tape impacts on the current verdict that is ahead of us and looks at the generality of why we continue to have this type of attitude and behavior,” he said.