‘I will make sure every woman has pepper spray if I win’ – Hawa Koomson

Former Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Mavis Hawa Koomson has made women’s personal safety a key part of her campaign for the position of National Women’s Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Speaking to NPP women ahead of Saturday’s national executive elections in Kumasi, the former Awutu Senya East MP pledged that, if elected, she would provide women with pepper spray for personal protection and support them with basic safety measures.

Koomson said her proposal was informed partly by her experience during the violent Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun in July 2025, where she was assaulted at a polling station and was captured on video using pepper spray during the confrontation.

She has maintained that she used the spray in self-defence after being threatened during the incident. Eight people were subsequently convicted over assaults connected to the incident and fined GH¢6,000 each by an Accra Circuit Court.

“If not for pepper spray, I would have been dead during the Ablekuma North election. It was the pepper spray that helped me,” she said.

Koomson questioned the perception surrounding the possession of pepper spray in Ghana, arguing that it should be viewed as a personal-safety tool rather than an indication that the holder intends to engage in a confrontation.

“Abroad, pepper spray is given to people for free, and whenever they are going out, they carry it in their bags. So how come in Ghana, when you are given pepper spray, it is interpreted as though you are going to use it to fight? It is meant for protection; you have to be able to protect yourself,” she said.

She also cited an alleged recent incident involving a woman travelling in an Uber, saying the woman’s possession of pepper spray helped protect her from potential harm.

“Therefore, I will make sure every woman has pepper spray, which they can use for their own protection,” Koomson added.

Her proposal forms part of her broader campaign message on women’s welfare and personal security as she seeks to lead the NPP’s women’s wing.

The position is being contested by Koomson and Hajia Safia Mohammed. The election is taking place at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi as the NPP elects its national officers. The Electoral Commission is supervising the process.