Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, was spotted in Parliament earlier today, Friday, November 11, 2022.
The former Minister for Gender, Women, and Children’s Affairs who was living in the USA had come under fire for her continuous absence from Parliament.
The former Deputy Majority Leader requested for leave of absence in 2021 to attend to personal issues but in a statement dated Wednesday, October 6, 2021, signed and issued by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr. Eugene Arhin, it was explained that Adwoa Safo’s leave was to have ended August 31, 2021, but was further extended indefinitely.
She was subsequently stripped of her responsibilities as Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of her return, the Dome Kwabenya MP said, “it feels good to be back.”
“The reception has been great,” the embattled legislator said.
“I’m back as a Member of Parliament to continue my duties and so today is the first day, and I am hoping that the subsequent weeks are going to be good”.
Efforts by Parliament’s Privileges Committee to get the legislator to give reasons for her continued absence from the House failed to yield any positive results.
The committee had failed to achieve a consensus in its recommendations on whether absenting herself for more than the mandatory 15 days without permission warranted her seat being declared vacant.
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, in October took strong exception to the Speaker of Parliament’s decision to direct the plenary to debate the fate of Adwoa Safo and two other legislators over absenteeism.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu maintained that the Speaker erred in referring the matter back to the house, explaining that the ruling flies in the face of the constitution and threatened to challenge the decision.
