FACTCHECK: Did IGP Dampare serve as Atta Mills' aide-de-camp at any point?

The claim that current Inspector-General of Police (IGP) George Akuffo Dampare served as a one-time aide-de-camp (ADC) of late John Evans Atta Mills has come up in recent times in the wake of a leaked tape probe by parliament.

The police chief, when he appeared before the Samuel Atta Akyea-led committee took time to explain how he rose to become IGP in 31 years having joined the Ghana Police Service as a recruit in 1990.

Throughout his narration of his journey as a police, he stressed a number of achievements he chalked individually or as leader of a group plus his academic pursuits which he believes along with 'miracles,' made his rise through the ranks one purely based on merit.

Incidentally, his role as ADC to late Atta Mills was missing in his personal narration.

It was and remains absent in his official profile as published on the site of the police service as well as copies supplied to the media, a copy of which was published by GhanaWeb.

Who is an aide-de-camp?

In strict terms, an ADC is a military officer acting as a confidential assistant to a senior officer.

But in terms of political presidential definitions, they are senior military of police officers who are assistants to the president and or vice president.

The president has a senior military office as his ADC in his capacity as Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, whereas the Vice President has a police ADC in his capacity as head of the Police Council.

Where was Dampare when Mills was Vice President

Mills served a Vice President between 1996 and 2000 under late Jerry John Rawlings.

According to Dampare's professional trajectory; in 1996 he had became a Chartered Accountant and had applied for promotion and became Superintendent of Police. Which means he skipped the Deputy Superintendent of Police post.

From the position of constable and within 6 years, he had risen to become Superintendent of Police (as of 1st June 1997), he remained at that post for the remainder of Mills' tenure as Veep.

In a pointed question by a member of the committee, Peter Toobu (himself a former police officer) Dampare addressed the issue of his status as an ADC to Atta Mills.

He stated that he had served in the role for a period of 18 months, stressing that serving in the role did not in any way mean he was politically aligned to Mills' party - the then ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Anyidoho speaks on ADC Dampare

The most recent ADC to Mills claim was made by Koku Anyidoho, a former spokesperson of Mills.

In a tweet earlier this week, Koku highlighted Dampare's qualifications and meteoric rise in the police service linking same to Mills' decision to supposedly appoint him as an aide-de-camp without any lobbying.

“Listening to IGP Dampare eloquently speak about his qualification & meteoric rise in the police service, I now know why Vice President Mills chose him as aide-de-camp without any lobbying," he tweeted.

It is worthy of note that Anyidoho did not serve in the presidency when Mills was Vice President but years after he had become president.

Verdict:

That Dampare served as an ADC to Atta Mills is TRUE based on his confirmation to the invetigative committee.

Dampare also listed a number of former IGPs who had served in similar capacities before their rise to the top of the police heirarchy.

SARA

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