Did Hawa Koomson actually fire warning shots? – Festus Aboagye demands answers from police

The Ghana Police Service must update Ghanaians about whether or not the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson, actually fired warning shots, as she claimed she did, during the voter registration exercise, security analyst Festus Aboagye has said.

“Have they done ballistic tests on the gun she allegedly fired?” the retired army officer asked on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 during an interview with Nana Yaw Adwenpa on Accra100.5FM’s morning show Ghana Yensom.

In Mr Aboagye’s view, it is important the police inform the general public on such happenings in a transparent manner so as to engender trust in them.

Mr Aboagye said the police must also update Ghanaians on all the other violent incidents that happened during the exercise.

It must include the incident at Banda, which resulted in the death of one person; the violence at Nkrankwanta, through which another person died and the brawl between an armed civilian and a police officer at Asawase.

“You don’t govern a country like that”, he said.

“The minister and all the foot soldiers who committed infractions during the voter registration exercise must be taken through due process”, he insisted.

“But the police is not telling us anything about those violent incidents”, he complained.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, has stated that prosecution of election-related offences has been one of the challenges of the Police Service, especially for police prosecutors.

He disclosed this at the launch of a legal education on prosecution of election-related offences for members of the Police Management Board and selected senior police officers from the police headquarters, Accra and Tema police Commands.

The launch, which took place on 18 August 2020, is aimed at equipping police officers at various levels of command, police prosecutors and investigators with the requisite know-how to successfully identify, arrest and prosecute persons who commit electoral offences, said the Director-General of Legal and Prosecutions, COP Mr Nathan Kofi Boakye.

He also said that the legal education will be organised across the country for all police commanders, prosecutors, and investigators as part of preparations toward the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.