General News of Saturday, 25 July 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Professor Kwesi Aning punches holes into Hawa Koomson's shooting story

Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson

Professor Kwesi Aning, a security expert, has identified some gaps in Mavis Hawa Koomson’s account of the violence that marred a registration exercise at Kasoa.

Hawa Koomson, who is the Minister of Special Initiatives and Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East admitted to firing shots to ward off angry NDC supporters at a registration centre.

According to her actions were in self-defense as her life was stake.

“When I got the information that people were being bused from some places into my constituency, I couldn’t sit down for people to come and register in my constituency and elect an MP for the people of Kasoa”.

“I work with men because I can’t work with women alone in this political enterprise. None of my men had guns on them when we got to the centre, I fired the shots myself. Yes, I gave those warning shots to protect myself”.

But speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile programme, Professor Kwesi Aning raised some inconsistencies in the Minister’s narration.

He alluded to the fact that Koomson’s version of the mayhem is not in tandem with reports from the Electoral Commission, Police and the journalists who were at the scene.

Kwesi Aning said based on the minister’s own narration of what happened, her actions were premeditated and her claims of being in danger hold no water.

“It is not the responsibility of public officials with official protective detail to defend themselves even when there are other law enforcement agents on the ground. If she had been informed of people being bused to the centre plus indicating that someone had promised to inform her if it continued then by picking up that gun and heading toward the centre it gives a sense of premeditatedness”.

“If the video we’ve all seen is the basis of this argument, then I think we can count about four or five police officers and one wonders why she thought it necessary to fire a gun. If she did fire the gun as she has said then why were three other men and a pistol brought to Cape Coast and not she herself accompanying them. So there are quite a number of inconsistencies in her story”, he said.

Meanwhile reports say that Mavis Hawa Koomson was on Friday invited by the Police for interrogation.

The report further adds that her gun has also been seized.