Former Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Mavis Hawa Koomson has pledged to provide women with pepper spray for personal protection if elected as the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) National Women’s Organiser.
Hawa Koomson said pepper spray is used in some countries as a self-defence tool but argued that its use in Ghana is often misunderstood.
“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.
In a video shared by Adom TV, she recalled the violence during the Ablekuma North election rerun on July 11, 2026, saying pepper spray helped protect her during the incident.
“If not for pepper spray, I would have been dead during the Ablekuma North election. It was the pepper spray that helped me,” she stated.
She said the experience had reinforced her belief that women should have access to the self-defence tool.
“Therefore, I will make sure every woman has pepper spray, which they can use for their own protection,” she added.
Hawa Koomson also referred to an incident involving a woman who used an Uber, claiming the woman could have been harmed if she had not had pepper spray.
“Recently, around this area, there was a woman who took an Uber. If she had not had pepper spray on her, she could have been harmed, but the pepper spray helped her,” she said.
Hawa Koomson is contesting the National Women’s Organiser position against Hajia Safia Mohammed.
The election is being held on Saturday, October 3, at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi, where more than 7,000 NPP delegates are voting to elect the party’s national officers.
