Claim: Mahama comments on attack on Hawa Koomson during Ablekuma North rerun
Source: Facebook
Verdict: Misleading
Researched by Gifty Danso
A video of President John Dramani Mahama speaking about electoral violence in the Awutu-Senya East Constituency is being portrayed online as his response to the recent assault on the former Member of Parliament for the area, Hawa Koosom.
The Facebook video emerged amid criticism by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the President and his Vice President have remained silent on the attack on Hawa Koomson during the 19 polling station election rerun at the Ablekuma-North Constituency on July 11, 2025.
The video reel shared by the Raz News page, President Mahama is heard saying: “Hawa Koomson, who fired a weapon at a registration center and boasted about it, walks away free and a parliamentary candidate for Awutu Senya East, is detained partly because the very police that issued her with the firearm’s licence misspelt her name.
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“If the government was seeking to break the spirit of Naa Koryoo with that politically organised arrest, they have rather handed over the Awutu Senya East parliamentary seat to the young woman, who by all standards, towers over and above the incumbent.”
The reel was captioned: “President Mahama on Hawa Koomson,” and had garnered over 769,000 views, 17,400 reactions, 1,100 shares and close to 600 comments.
Another video with the same narrative was captioned: “I voted for hope and I have seen it already within 6 months ..!!! Thank you John&Jane!!!”
This fact-check will verify whether President Mahama has made any direct comments about the former MP.
Fact-Check
When GhanaFact conducted keyword search on Google, we found a news report dated June 10, 2024, where President Mahama, then an opposition flagbearer, addressed intimidation in the Awutu-Senya East Constituency against his party’s parliamentary candidate Phillis Naa Koryoo Okunor.
GhanaFact subsequently traced the comments by Mr. Mahama to a June 9, 2024, live broadcast themed “Mahama Conversations,” which was streamed on the John Mahama YouTube channel. Such broadcasts were common with the National Democratic Congress and its then-flagbearer in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
The comments alluded to in the video about Hawa Koomson were made from the 25-minute, 20-second mark of the about 1-hour broadcast (find here).
Verdict
The video of President Mahama speaking about Hawa Koomson is unrelated to the recent assault during the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun.
The video is, therefore, misleading.
