Hawa Koomson gunshots: Investigation is not a one-day event – IGP

Inspector General of the Ghana Police Service, James Oppong-Boanuh has asked Ghanaians to be patient as investigations are still ongoing in a case involving the sitting Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East constituency, Mavis Hawa Koomson.

He posits that though some Ghanaians have raised concerns over the delay in the process, investigating a case of such magnitude is not a one-day event.

While answering questions in relation to the case at a media briefing on security preparations ahead of the upcoming polls, November 4, 2020, he said his personnel have to go through rigorous investigative procedure in order to establish facts before arraigning parties involved.

He said: “you were talking about a sitting MP claiming to have fired (a gun), investigation is not a one-day event, once you start with investigations you have to deal with the issues involved. If there’s a fire arm involved, is the fire arm registered? If it’s registered, in whose name…if there was firing, you verify whether it was that particular fire arm that was fired…”

James Oppong-Boanuh added that Ghanaians deserved better when it comes to the work of the Ghana Police Service in cases of this nature.

“…it is not just that the event has happened you arrest the person and put them before court…I think Ghanaians deserve better by waiting on the police to do thorough investigation before we put cases before court…,” he noted.

Mavis Hawa Koomson who doubles as the Minister of Special Development Initiative during the EC’s voters’ registration exercise in July, admitted to firing gunshots at a polling centre in her constituency.

In a live radio interview, she said: “None of my men had guns on then when we got to the centre. I fired the shots myself…I’m a Member of Parliament, I need to protect myself. It was at dawn; my police escort had not started work yet. So that is a mechanism I have adopted in his absence.

After intense public calls for her prosecution not much has been heard about it.