In a country yearning for leadership rooted in integrity and compassion, the name Hawa Koomson has come to symbolize everything wrong with Ghana’s democratic experiment. For years, she paraded as a leader, brandishing her ministerial title and clinging to power through tactics that betray the very soul of democracy. But the incidents at the recent Ablekuma North re-run have laid bare not only the fragility of our electoral system, but the true character of one who once held the people of Awutu Senya East in political captivity.

Koomson’s fall from grace is not a tragedy. It is justice knocking at the door of impunity.

A Decade of Power Without Purpose

For twelve long years, Hawa Koomson occupied a seat in Parliament under the banner of the New Patriotic Party. She wielded ministerial power in both the Special Development Initiatives and Fisheries and Aquaculture portfolios. And yet, what does she have to show the people of Kasoa and Awutu Senya East? Roads left untarred, youth left unemployed, and communities left abandoned. Instead of development, she offered division. Instead of hope, she sold hostility.

Under her reign, political engagement in Kasoa became a battlefield. Public resources meant for the people became campaign tools. Institutions that should have served the community were weaponized for political gain. And at the height of it all, she did the unthinkable. In July 2020, she admitted to firing a weapon at a voter registration centre. A sitting minister, a legislator, drawing a gun in broad daylight. And what was her justification? “Self-defence.” A flimsy excuse masking deep-seated fear of losing the power she had abused for far too long.

The Shameful Re-run and the Return of Violence

The July 2025 Ablekuma North by-election, which should have been a routine exercise of democracy, instead descended into chaos and violence. And at the center of that violence stood Hawa Koomson once again. Though she had lost her parliamentary seat in Awutu Senya East, she could not resist inserting herself into another constituency’s affairs. What followed was disturbing and telling.

At the Odorkor Methodist 1 polling station, chaos erupted. Macho men arrived in pickups and on motorbikes. Voters were intimidated. Journalists were attacked. Violence ruled. Amid it all, Koomson, dressed in party colors, was caught in a scene that many saw as poetic. She was sprayed with pepper, assaulted by the same force of political hooliganism that she once enabled. She cried for help. But the country did not cry with her.

What we witnessed was not just a physical attack. It was the collapse of a myth. The myth that those who rule with fear can remain untouchable. In that moment, Ghana saw not a leader, but a relic of a broken system crumbling under its own weight.

No Sympathy for the Architects of Violence

Let it be made clear that violence has no place in our politics. No Ghanaian deserves to be attacked, not even Hawa Koomson. But we must also confront the bitter truth: the seeds sown through years of political intimidation have now borne bitter fruit. For too long, politicians have used thugs, guns, and fear as campaign tools. Now, when those same tactics turn inward, they ask for prayers and pity.

Where was Koomson’s compassion in 2020 when she fired warning shots at unarmed citizens? Where was her voice when young men were beaten for wearing the wrong party T-shirts? Where was her accountability when voters in Kasoa were harassed and disenfranchised?

To ask for sympathy now, without repentance or responsibility, is an insult to every Ghanaian who has suffered under the same politics of fear she perpetuated.

A System Rotten to Its Core

The Ablekuma North re-run exposed more than the failings of one politician. It revealed the deep rot at the heart of our electoral system. From the intimidation of voters to the assault of journalists, it became clear that elections in Ghana are no longer safe spaces for democratic expression. They are battlefields. And the Electoral Commission, once revered for its neutrality, now stands accused of enabling partisan interests.

The silence of institutions is deafening. Where are the arrests, prosecutions and justice for the journalist slapped by a police officer? Where is the accountability for the mob that stormed the polling station?

Until these questions are answered, we cannot claim to live in a democracy. We live in a managed illusion, where power is preserved not by votes but by violence.

Ghana Deserves Better

The time has come to reject this culture of impunity. Ghana deserves leaders who build bridges, not barricades. Leaders who protect the vote, not pollute it. Leaders who serve the people, not their egos.

Hawa Koomson’s political career should serve as a cautionary tale. Power that is not rooted in service will collapse. Influence that thrives on fear will eventually face its own fire.

We, the concerned voices of Ghana’s youth and future, are not fooled by titles and slogans. We see through the lies and demand a politics of decency, accountability, freedom and justice. And we call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to rise against the old order.

Let us refuse to normalize political violence and refuse to elevate leaders who bring pepper spray to polling stations. Let us rebuild a Ghana where no citizen fears the vote, and no leader fears the truth.

Because the truth is this:

Hawa Koomson did not fall. She was exposed.

Kofi Asante – NSG News