‘Politics has toughened me’
She has never regretted going into politics and believes the ‘hazards’ of the calling have rather toughened her.
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Re-elected to contest again on the ticket of her party at the 2016 general elections, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for the Awutu Senya East Constituency in the Central Region, Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson, has, therefore, urged Ghanaian women not to shy away from doing active politics but take bold steps to enter the area.
Mrs Koomson is currently the only female NPP MP in the Central Region.
Having been re-elected on the ticket of the NPP to contest the 2016 general elections, Mrs Koomson says she would try to do more to help her constituents.
According to her, she has already provided a hearse for the Zongo Community, lobbied for GETFund school projects at Iron City, furnished the Awutu Senya Education Directorate and provided street lights for some areas in Kasoa.
“I have never regretted going into politics. Negative utterances are meant to dampen the spirits of women but if we allow those comments to discourage us, I don’t think we will be able to make the desired impact on society,” she said in an interview with The Mirror.
“We have to stand firm, otherwise a time would come when we would not have a single woman doing politics in this country. I am encouraging other women to do full time politics in spite of the pressure involved.”
Being the first daughter of her parents, she had to assist her mother with virtually all the household chores. Fortunately for Mrs Koomson, her parents did not say because she was the only girl she should not go to school.
She also realised early in life that being educated could help her achieve her ambitions, and that mindset propelled her to study hard.
Life at Nalerigu Secondary School in the Northern Region was not easy for her, she recalled, adding that just when she entered the school, her father became ill and was on admission in a hospital for 18 months.
With a sick father, she had to become a day student in order to assist her mother sell a variety of items for the family’s upkeep. In the course of the period, she sold ‘darkua’ and ‘koko’ to help make ends meet.
Her aim was to be a nurse so she wrote an entrance examination at the Bolgatanga Community Health Nursing School in the Upper East Region to pursue that dream. However, based on advice from a brother-in-law that she should rather attend a teacher training college, she changed her mind.
“I had the admission letters to both the nursing and teacher training institutions at the same time and I opted for the teaching college,” she said.
She started her politics and assumption of leadership positions in the teaching field. She was once a secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers Ladies Association (GNAT-LAS) in Sekondi in the Western Region.
In the course of time, she became the regional treasurer. She was also a district president for GNAT-LAS.
It was one of the leaders of GNAT-LAS who saw the potential in her and encouraged her to aspire to the position of an assembly woman.
She thought of taking to politics in 2016 but immediately after the 2008 elections, she was called by some people in the Kasoa township in the Central Region to offer herself for the position of a parliamentarian.
“I was there one night when these people came and said if I was not ready to go to Parliament, then I should consider being at the constituency level as a women organiser. I consulted my husband and he said I had the potential for active politics.”
In 2009, Mrs Koomson became the women organiser for the constituency. She said in 2011, some bigwigs in the NPP told her she would do well for Kasoa if she went to Parliament.
“I realised that at the time, there was no one who could win the seat for the party in the constituency so I took the advice and won the seat.”
Her role models are Christine Churcher and the late Hawa Yakubu, whom she never met. She is inspired by their boldness and willingness to help people around them and the country as a whole.
She was born at the Effiakwanta Hospital at Takoradi in the Western Region while her late father, Issahaku Abdulai, who hailed from Bimbilla, was on transfer as a policeman. Her mother, Hajia Mariama Imoro, is from Salaga.
After secondary school, she went to the Bimbilla Teacher Training College to be trained as a teacher. She later undertook diploma and degree courses at the University of Education, Winneba.
She taught Life Skills and Environmental Studies for 23 years in the Islamic Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service, where she rose to the rank of a headteacher, before entering Parliament.
Mrs Koomson is married to Mr J.W. Koomson, a civil servant, and they are blessed with three children.