OccupyGhana: Prosecute Hawa Koomson if…

OccupyGhana, a pressure group, is calling for the investigation and prosecution of the Special Development Initiative Minister, Mavis Hawa Koomson, if she breached any law for firing gun.

According to the group, in a country governed by the rule of law, an alleged breach of the law is not prevented by breaching the law.

A statement issued yesterday read in part: “What the Minister did endangered the lives of not only the political actors, but innocent people whose only interest in being at the registration centre was ostensibly to exercise their constitutional right to be registered, and to vote in the coming elections.”

“We call on the police to quickly investigate the circumstances under which this incident occurred. If it is found that the Minister breached the law, she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under the law,” it added.

The release said the use of force or violence was a crime under the laws of the country, unless there was reasonable justification, and within the strict bounds provided by law.

It explained that specifically, it was a crime to fire a weapon ‘in a town without lawful and necessary occasion.’

It added that possession of a firearm ‘without lawful excuse’ is a first-degree felony. And it is also a crime to have an offensive weapon while in a public place, public meeting, or at a public assembly of people ‘without lawful authority.’

While condemning all election-related violence, OccupyGhana also condemned what it described as the inexplicable circumstances under which the Minister took a loaded weapon to the registration centre in the first place, when she has police guard, paid for by the state and whose job is to protect her.
“Further, the law that regulates the registration of voters also provides a process for challenging ineligible people who register or attempt to do so. That is what should be followed, if people are breaking the law. No individual has the mandate or power to seek to prevent others from registering simply because that individual believes that the law is being flouted.
“We cannot have a registration exercise and then an election where people would feel so threatened that they would either stay at home and not vote at all, or go to the registration or polling stations armed. Ghanaians are already battling the spread of the dreadful Coronavirus. This should not be combined with needless threats to our lives and safety,” OccupyGhana posited.
In a related development,the Member of Parliament for Kunbumgu, Ras Mubarak, has also called on Parliament to invite the Minister, who is also MP for Awutu Senya East,to the Privileges Committee.

He said that the issue was despicable and embarrasses the institution of Parliament.

He indicated that what Hawa Koomson did could have serious implications if someone else had retaliated.

According to the Kunbumgu Legislator, people have lost confidence in the House, and one of the things it should do to restore public confidence and redeem its name is to invite the Member to answer questions regarding her act.

Responding to the comments, Matthew Nyindam, First Deputy Majority Whip and MP for Kpandai, disagreed with the request for Madam Hawa to be hauled before the Privileges Committee.

He indicated that the Member could have reasons for what she did, so he would prefer the police handled the issue than Parliament’s Privileges Committee.

“So far, as she is an MP does not mean any action should be taken to the Privileges Committee.

“I don’t know what necessitated that action because I wasn’t there, and I wouldn’t pretend to know why she did.

“For all you know, she had good reasons for doing what she did.”

“It has to do with the police, and the police must do their own investigations and get to the bottom, but to drag her to the Privileges Committee, I disagree.

“The police must go into it and find out what will make her fire a gun, and Parliament does not have the capacity to do it.

“On face value, it’s a condemnable act, but there must be a reason for her action.”

 

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