The Ghanaian Police on Friday had said they were investigating the shooting death of a Ghanaian lawmaker. The lawmaker was reported to have been shot after attending a political event in his constituency, in an apparent robbery case.
Ekow Quansan Hayford, who was a member of the President Nana Akufo-Addo’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), was campaigning ahead of the December elections in his constituency, some 108 kilometers (67 miles) from the country’s capital, Accra.
Wofa Yaw, an NPP official who was accompanying the shot Members of the Parliament (MP) to the AFP.
Yaw added that the driver later died in the hospital, he said, “In the course of the melee, the MP introduced himself as the lawmaker for the area and immediately they shot him and he died on the spot.”
A similar account was given by another eye witness
The witness, who wanted to remain anonymous, said, “They asked us to lie down while others ran into the bush. It was a terrifying scene. All we heard were gunshots.”
The country’s Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, in a statement, said that investigators had been dispatched to support local authorities in investigating the alleged robbery and murder.
The Ghanaian President, Akufo-Addo, on his Facebook, posted that he was shocked and saddened by the news, sending his condolences to the MP’s family.
He said, “By all accounts, he was very much appreciated and loved by his constituents, and I expect the police to bring the perpetrators of this gruesome, cruel act to book as soon as possible.”
The party is expected to nominate a new candidate for the Mfantseman constituency that Hayford represented.
“It’s a sad morning and we’re all devastated. Ghana has lost one of its illustrious sons,” Bright Wireko-Bobby, a party member and deputy minister for employment and labor relations, told AFP.
The opposition National Democratic Congress, in a statement, said it was suspending its campaign in the constituency in solidarity with the ruling party.
Ghana — viewed as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies — is gearing up for presidential elections on December 7.
(WAP/AFP)
