The Chairman of the National Peace Council (NPC), Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, says the action of the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson, who is also the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East in the Central Region, is a disgrace to all the organs of government in the country.
The Chairman said the shooting at a registration centre in Kasoa by the Minister is a disgrace to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President’s Office, the Minister’s Office, Parliament as an institution, the citizens in the Minister’s Constituency and women in the country.
Madam Hawa Koomson on Monday admitted firing gunshots while monitoring the ongoing voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) in her constituency.
Reacting to the issue on Onua TV’s Maakye hosted by Bright Kwasi Asempa and Adwoa Konadu-Yiadom, Prof Asante explained that “it’s an embarrasment to the President himself who appointed her. It’s an embarasement to her party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), it’s an embarrasment to the Parliament and it’s an embarrasment to her constituents”.
“Parliament should also sit and invite her to the Privileges Committe to sanction her. The NPP should also reprimand her and other politicians should also reprimaind her. We don’t have to raise a gun at any provocations.”
He further explained: “For the NPP, it’s the party in power so people would not see things properly with the government in terms of their security.”
The Peace Council Chairman added that “[Hawa Koomson] is a Minister and an MP. She is also the NPP Candidate for the constituency in the 2020 elections so she is in a very responsible position in the society so such person should have been cautious”.
Electoral violence
Prof Asante does not understand why the laws of Ghana frowns on electoral violence yet a legislator would violate such laws.
“The Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019, (Act 999) forbids electoral violence so why must an MP indulge in it?”
He said if all those around have pounced on her in retaliation, what would they have done?
Comparing Ghana to other countries, Prof Asante said “if it were in abroad, she would not wait to be sacked. She would have resigned so I am advising her to write to the president, apologize to him and bow out”.
By Kweku Antwi-Otoo|3news.com|Ghana