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The Dome Kwabenya’s representative, Sarah Adwoa Safo, will face a decision from Parliament today
It comes after the Parliamentary Privileges Committee’s findings was laid out about the three absent MPs.
The majority of the members of the Privileges Committee, according to Ghanatodayonline.com, have recommended that the Dome-Kwabenya seat be declared vacant, but the minority believes that the absent MP should be given more time and the chance to explain why she absconded without permission before a final decision is made about her seat.
This assertion has been supported by a copy of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee’s report that was obtained by the media.
The last day before the House adjourns for the summer, today, Thursday, July 28, 2022, is when Parliament is expected to discuss the committee’s report.
Sarah Adwoa Safo did not appear before the Committee to explain why she was absent from the House without a written excuse for more than the required 15 sittings, despite repeated efforts to invite her to the Committee.
According to the rules of Article 97 (1) (c) of the 1992 Constitution, Sarah Adwoa Safo must give the Privileges Committee a good justification as to why she should keep her seat after missing 42 sittings over the relevant period.
Ghanatodayonline.com is aware that the minority members on the committee acknowledge that reasonable efforts were made to have Sarah Adwoa Safo appear before the committee; however, the minority members believe that the House should be informed of this fact without drawing any inferences from Sarah Adwoa Safo’s failure to respond to the Committee’s repeated invitations.
The majority believes that Sarah Adwoa Safo should have utilized the many chances and resources available to her to give the Committee a reasonable justification for her absence without leave.
The Dome-Kwabenya Seat is thus automatically vacant by operation of law in accordance with Article 97 (1) (c) of the 1992 Constitution and the Court of Appeal’s ruling in the matter of Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare V. the Attorney General & 3 Ors.
The Dome Kwabenya MP claims that while serving as the Deputy Majority Leader in the House of Commons and the Leader of the Women’s Caucus, she and the Majority leadership “did our very best to protect a colleague female Member of Parliament who had to be away in London for nearly two years to attend to family matters.”
We didn’t go about raising a stink about her absence, so we did this out of compassion because it involved kids.
“This is just one example of how we, as leaders in parliament, safeguarded one of our own.”
But she pointed out: “In the last few months that I have been away from official duties albeit not intentionally, I have become a victim of a sustained political witch-hunt by certain elements in the NPP and in parliament to achieve their own parochial goals”.
“This has left me asking myself if this is happening because I am a woman, who, for just this one time, needed some time off to deal with a few personal issues which were too dear to share with the larger public.”
“As a member of the party, I have served with utmost diligence (both in opposition and in government) and have at all times put the fortunes of my family at the disposal of the party.”
“At no point in time have myself nor my family withheld anything of ours from our great party, yet today, I am conveniently being called a traitor and all manner of names with several schemes being put to play and employed to oust me from my position as MP and minister.” Hon Adwoa Safo added.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
