Dome Kwabenya MP Sarah Adwoa Safo did not join Wednesday’s scheduled Zoom meeting with the Privileges Committee of parliament which summoned her and some two other MPs of the majority caucus to answer questions about why she has been absent from the house for months without the permission of the Speaker of the house.
It is not clear why she did not show up.
In the middle of June this year, The Privileges Committee of Parliament summoned the absentee MP to appear before it on July 6, 2022.
A statement from the parliamentary service said: “The Chairman of the Privileges Committee has directed that summons to the Hon. Member for Dome Kwabenya to appear before the Privileges Committee of Parliament on 6th July 2022 at 12:00 noon at Parliament House, New Administration Block, Committee Room 1, 2 & 3 pursuant to Article 103 (6) of the Constitution and Order 205 of the Standing Orders of Parliament be published in all relevant media. This comes after all attempts to reach the Honourable Member by the Committee failed.”
The Committee said at the time that it “has employed all available means, both official and unofficial, to serve the Member with an invitation letter, including sending the invitation letter to her office and pigeonhole in Parliament,” but it is yet to get any response from her.
The Committee is probing the protracted absenteeism of Ms Safo as well as two other MPs of the majority caucus, Mr Kennedy Agyapong and Henry Quartey.
In a recent interview, Adwoa Safo said she is not aware she has been invited or served a notice of appearance by parliament in connection with her previously scheduled appearance before the Privileges Committee on Friday, 27 May 2022.
“I am not aware such a thing has been given to me”, she told Accra-based Joy News on Thursday, adding: “I am just hearing it from you”.
“As we speak, I don’t know that I have been invited”, she stressed.
“I have to be served,” she added.
The Minister of Gender, Child and Social Protection said she will only return home from the United States when he sick son is declared fit and healthy.
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, had earlier explained to the house that: “I have accordingly come to the irresistible conclusion that a member who absents himself or herself from 16 sitting days of Parliament in a particular meeting, without the permission in writing of the Speaker, falls squarely within the ambit of Article 97, clause 1(c) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 16(1) of the Standing Orders of Parliament”.
A former Member of Parliament for Kumbumgu Constituency, Mr Ras Mubarak, petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, to enforce Article 97(1)c of the 1992 Constitution by referring some four MPs to the Privileges Committee for absenting themselves for more than 15 days without permission.
According to the ex-lawmaker, the Standing Orders of Parliament are not clear as to who can or should raise the matter of absenteeism on the floor of the House for a debate and, or referral by Mr Speaker to the Committee on Privileges but it is incidences like this, if unattended to, that threatens Ghana’s democracy.
Quoting an Afrobarometer data, Mr Mubarak said trust in Parliament has fallen by 12 per cent between 2002 and 2019.
The report, he said, ranked Parliament as the third corrupt institution in the country – just behind the police and judges.
“I humbly submit that democracy can only work if Parliament puts the common good ahead of party and personal interest. At a time of seeming collapse of trust in politics and Parliament as an institution, it is my fervent prayer that the House would rise to the occasion and be united on this matter, so as to uphold our constitution and also win back waned public confidence,” the petition stated.
The Speaker of Parliament referred the matter to the Committee, following the absence of the MPs for more than fifteen days without permission.
Source: Modern Ghana
