A Security Expert, Dr Ishmael Norman, has strongly condemned the recent attacks on former Awutu Senya East MP Hawa Koomson during the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun.

He directly attributed the violence to inadequate police preparedness and has called for the immediate prosecution of those involved.

Speaking on TV3's "The Key Points" on Saturday, July 12, Dr Norman asserted that the Ghana Police Service should have anticipated the mayhem and preemptively declared the Odorkor Methodist polling station a "hotspot."

He criticised their preparedness terming it as being "poor".

"Overall, I think the performance wasn’t too bad…they should have anticipated the violence and declared the place a hotspot. The preparedness was poor. They had to think about the worst-case scenario, but they didn’t do that," he decried.

Dr Norman minced no words in laying the blame at the feet of the police, particularly regarding the assault on Hawa Koomson.

"Definitely, the Police officers were dispatched. I also want them to prosecute the persons who attacked the woman. This is the fault of the Police, they should have searched everyone," he emphasised.

The voting process at the Odorkor Methodist 1 polling station was abruptly suspended after chaos erupted.

Reports indicated that unidentified thugs arrived in a pickup vehicle, forcefully entering the premises despite the presence of police officers.

These individuals then proceeded to assault several people, including the former MP for Awutu Senya East, Mavis Hawa Koomson.

Viral videos of the assault, showed Hawa Koomson being kicked in the groin and repeatedly assaulted while on the ground, before police officers eventually intervened to remove her from the scene.

The violence was not limited to political figures; multiple media reports confirm that a GHOne journalist was slapped by a police officer, while a JoyNews journalist was also assaulted while attempting to record the unfolding chaos.

Despite a significant police presence at the premises, officers were largely unable to prevent the attack or quell the ensuing disorder.

The rerun election in Ablekuma North became necessary to resolve a seven-month deadlock, leaving the constituency without parliamentary representation since the December 7th General Election.

Eventually, Ewurabena Aubynn won the polls taking over from her NPP contender Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie to represent the constituency in Parliament.

Background

The impasse began during the collation of results last December when, according to the Electoral Commission (EC), political party supporters besieged the collation centre and destroyed an unspecified number of original result forms (Pink Sheets).

This led to the use of 37 scanned Pink Sheets, provided by the NPP, to continue the collation process.

The NDC objected, insisting on a full rerun in all 37 polling stations where scanned copies were used.

The NPP, however, argued that since NDC agents had verified the scanned copies, the results should stand.

VPO/EB

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