The Privileges Committee in Parliament has released a statement on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, with the directive to publish in the media the summons requesting the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo to appear before it.
This comes after futile attempts to reach Ms. Safo to appear before the committee to explain why she was absent from Parliament for more than 15 sittings without permission, as stipulated by Ghana’s constitution.
“The summons form part of the Committee’s work, referred to it by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, pursuant to Article 97(1) ( c) of the Constitution and, Orders 15 and 16 (1) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, for consideration and report to the House, on the absence of the Member from Parliament for more than fifteen sittings, without permission in writing of the Speaker, during the First Meeting of the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana” the statement said.
According to the statement, the Privileges Committee has employed all available means, both official and unofficial to serve the Member with an invitation letter but all such have proved futile.
Ms. Safo, who is also the Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, was summonsed along with two others; Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central, and Henry Quartey, MP for Ayawaso Central, and the Greater Accra Regional Minister, who is expected to appear before the committee, today, Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
The Vice Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Akwasi Owusu Afrifa-Mensah, MP for Amasaman, in an interview with the press, yesterday, June 14, 2022, revealed that if Ms. Safo still fails to appear before the committee after the publication of the invitation in the media, the committee would prepare its report and present it to the plenary for consideration.
The Gender Minister was last seen in Parliament in December 2021 to counter the Minority Caucus’s concerns about an impersonation. The Minister’s absence from the Chamber seems unacceptable to her colleagues, hence some Members of Parliament have called for her removal from office.
