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A former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central has criticised his former colleague for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo for not attending Parliament sittings.
According to Inusah Fuseini, although she may have germane reasons to stay away from her duties as an MP but cannot stay away without informing the House’s leadership.
As a result, he concluded that Adwoa Safo disrespected the House by failing to resort to laid down procedure in being absent from the House since December 2021.
The former Ranking Member on Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs thus admonished the absentee MP to do the right thing.
“There is no law that prevents the MP from leaving Parliament for more than 15 days to attend to personal issues, except that the MP must have the permission of his or her caucus or the Speaker.”
Adwoa Safo might have personal issues, but she has to take advantage of the legal regime that allows her to leave Parliament for as long as her personal issues persist. She cannot be seen to be treating Parliament with impunity,” he argued.
Meanwhile, the former lawmaker also queried the Privileges Committee for not taking a decision on Adowa Safo’s absence, despite having the powers to do so.
According to him, the 1992 constitution explicitly gave the powers to the committee to make such decisions.
“The constitution does not shy away from giving responsibility to the Privileges Committee to make a decision. The Privileges Committee has been named in the constitution to assess the reasonableness of the explanation of an MP who has absented himself or herself for 15 sitting days.”
He made these comments in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM on Tuesday, July 19.
This follows the embattled MP’s allegation of being witch-hunted.
Adwoa Safo, in a Facebook post on Sunday, July 17, has accused the Majority in Parliament and the NPP of witch-hunting her.
She stated categorically that she has become a victim of a sustained political witch-hunt by certain elements in the NPP and in Parliament for their own parochial goals.
Adwoa Safo expressed shock about how she is being treated differently by people, including members of her party for staying away from official duty in order to attend to personal issues involving her child.
According to her, during her time as the Deputy Majority Leader in the erstwhile Parliament, she did same for a colleague who was in a similar position.
“The theme for this year’s Conference, Holding Together, Working Together resonates so much with my current circumstances and brings back memories of my time as the Deputy Majority Leader in the 7th Parliament where, as Leader of the Women’s Caucus, together with the Leadership of the Majority did our very best to protect a colleague female Member of Parliament who had to be away in London for close to two years to take care of family issues.”
However, the Majority Leader has expressed his disappointment with Adwoa Safo’s accusations.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the comments made by Mrs. Safo are unfortunate.
According to him, he personally has sent several messages to his colleague without any response.
“I am surprised if she says leadership is witch-hunting her. I think it is the most unfortunate and regrettable statement. For the past two months, I have not been engaging because I have sent numerous messages to her and she has not responded,” he said.
The Gender Minister has not been in Parliament since December 2021.
Also, invitations from Privileges Committee to deliberate on her absence from Parliament have not been honoured yet.
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