Today, July 28, 2022, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, is anticipated to deliver a statement regarding the future of Sara Adwoa Safo, a member of the Dome Kwabenya Parliament.
This comes after the Privileges Committee’s findings was laid forth about her absence from Parliament. Whether or not her seat should be declared vacant was decided upon in a 50-50 decision in the report.
The committee was unable to come to an agreement on whether the committee should declare the member’s seat vacant if she skips more than the required 15 days without permission.
The Minority argued that the seat should not be declared vacant in accordance with the principle of natural justice because Adwoa Safo failed to present her side of the story to the committee, according to a copy of the report made available to Citi News. The Majority wants the seat declared vacant right away in accordance with the stated constitutional provisions.
Sources claim that before the parliament adjourns today, the Speaker will rule on the issue.
The Committee contends that Sarah Adwoa Safo missed multiple opportunities to provide an explanation for her absence without leave.
In support of their argument, the majority of the committee’s members referenced Article 97 (1) (c) of the 1992 Constitution as well as the Court of Appeal’s ruling in the case of Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare v. Attorney General & 3 Ors.
However, the minority members of the committee contended that because Adwoa Safo failed to provide her side of the story to the committee, the seat should not be declared empty in accordance with the natural justice concept.
However, the committee found that the justifications provided by her two other colleagues, Kennedy Agyepong and Henry Quartey, for their absence were acceptable.
Recently, Adwoa Safo accused several National Democratic Congress (NDC) members and several of her fellow NPP MPs of engaging in political witchcraft.
The legislator’s special assistant, Nana Dubin, refuted claims that she ignored the Houses’ Privileges Committee.
He was unable to provide details as to why she was unable to interact with the Committee, but he informed Citi News that the MP has no trouble attending to the Committee.
