The Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa-Koomson, must be arrested following a shooting incident that occurred at a registration centre in the Awutu Senya East Constituency of the Central Region on Monday, 20 July 2020, the Community Focus Foundation Ghana (CFF-Gh) has said.

CFF-GH said it considers the warning shot fired by the minister at the centre as an “unfortunate incident and very disgraceful and a dent on our participatory democratic governance”.

“We condemn her misconduct in the strongest terms”, the group said in its statement

Its Executive Director, Mr Richard Kasu, said: “As a Member of Parliament (MP) and a Minister of State, the best she can do is to contribute meaningfully and empower more women to take up leadership roles in pursuit of national development, but regrettably, she has betrayed the confidence reposed in her by the President of the Republic, HE Nana Akufo-Addo and the Ghanaian people”.

“By this release, we are calling on the Ghana Police Service to take action and arrest Hawa Koomson to face the full rigours of the law, since no minister is bigger than the laws of the state”, the group demanded.

“It's high time people in responsible positions are punished severely if they fall foul of the law irrespective of their status in society”, it said, adding: “Ghanaians are to note that without justice, peace cannot be guaranteed.”

The Minister admitted on Monday that she fired the warning shots that marred the voter registration exercise at Kasoa.

She said she took a gun to the centre for personal protection in her attempt to stop the parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Phyllis Naa Koryoo, from busing aliens to the area to register.

“None of my men carried guns to the centre”, she told Accra-based Adom FM, adding: “I fired the warning 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 the modus operandi I engaged in his absence”, she said.

There was confusion at the Step To Christ registration centre during the voter registration exercise on Monday, 20 July 2020, when heavily-muscled gun-wielding men stormed the premises to disrupt the exercise.

Officials of the Electoral Commission took to their heels when the men, numbering about 15, ransacked the place.

According to eyewitnesses, this led to a scuffle and pandemonium as the live bullets wrung into the air.

At least, three motorbikes were burnt in the mayhem.