The Minister-designate for Fisheries, Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson, has apologised for firing gunshots which nearly marred the voter registration process in her constituency on Monday, July 20, 2020.
On that fateful day, Mrs Koomson, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Awutu Senya East Constituency in the Central Region, went to the Step to Christ polling centre at Kasoa after receiving information that people from outside the constituency were bussed to register there as voters.
After a misunderstanding broke out, the MP said she fired warning shots to “defend herself”.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Thursday, Mrs Koomson admitted that her actions were not ministerial, dishonourable, and consequently apologised.
She said, “Mr Chairman, I want to take this opportunity to apologise to the people who were so scared on that day.”
Mrs Koomson’s apology followed a question by the MP for Gushegu, Mr Hassan Tampuli on events that led to the firing of a gun by the minister-designate.
Responding to the question, Mrs Koomson said although her actions were premised on some circumstances at the time, they were regrettable.
She also expressed the hope that such an incident would not repeat itself.
“It was in defence of myself because I felt my life was in danger with the circumstances that I found myself. That day, I thought I needed to save my life,” she explained.
“But Mr Chairman, I would also want to plead with this committee that the issue is before the police for investigations and I wouldn’t want to say much about it,” she added.
In a follow-up question, the MP for Tamale South, Mr Haruna iddrisu, sought to find out why Mrs Koomson did not go to the polling centre with her bodyguard.
In her response, she said, “that day the bodyguard was not with me. It was as early as 6 am. She had then not reported for duty.”
