Adwoa Safo back in Parliament
Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has been spotted in Parliament today.
This is after her continuous absence divided the House with the Majority interestingly taking the view that the Privileges Committee report recommending her removal should be final.
The Majority is already considering dragging the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to the Supreme Court over his ruling on the Dome-Kwabenya legislator.
Mr Bagbin ruled that the Committee’s report must be placed before the whole House for a decision to be made.
According to the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the ruling was “unfortunate”, saying the Speaker may have misinterpreted the law.
But on her return, Adwoa Safo seems to be blending in easily.
She told journalists that “it feels good to be back.”
“The reception has been great,” the embattled legislator said on Friday, November 11.
“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”.
Background
Before going on recess in July, Mr Bagbin deferred his ruling on whether the Dome-Kwabenya seat should be declared vacant or not, following Madam Adwoa Safo’s failure to honour an invite by the Privileges Committee on her continuous absence from Parliament.
The Speaker, on May 4, referred Adwoa Safo, Henry Quartey, MP of Ayawaso Central, and Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP, Assin Central, to the Privileges Committee for absenting themselves from 15 sittings of the House without his permission.
That was during the First Session of the Eighth Parliament.
The Committee 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, however, wants the seat declared vacant without delay in line with stated constitutional provisions.
It observed that Madam Safo failed to take advantage of the numerous opportunities to explain her absence without leave.
Meanwhile, the Majority of MPs on the Committee cited Article 97 (1) (c) of the 1992 Constitution and the Court of Appeal decision in the case of Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare v the Attorney-General & 3 Ors, in this regard.
The Minority MPs on the Committee, argued that according to the principle of natural justice, the seat should not be declared vacant because the Dome-Kwabenya legislator did not provide her side of the story to the Committee.
The Committee, however, determined that the explanation offered by her two colleagues, Mr Agyepong and Mr Quartey, for absenting themselves were reasonable.
A copy of the report made available to the Ghana News Agency before recess showed that the Committee members gave a split decision on the fate of Madam Adwoa Safo.
Source: Ghana News
