The Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central in the Central Region, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has poured out his frustrations over how he was constantly snubbed by his Baby Mama, Sarah Adwoa Safo, MP for Dome-Kwabenya.
According to him, several phone calls he had placed to his former lover in order to get in touch with her went unanswered.
Giving further details on his efforts to reach his fellow parliamentarian via phone in the United States where she is cooling off, the Assin Central MP noted his daughter once called him to demand for her birthday present when he persuaded his daughter to hand over the cell phone to her mother so he could talk to the mother.
Shockingly, he said the mother of her two children refused to talk him.
“I called Adwoa Safo 13 times, she refused to talk to me. She refused. What do you want us to do again. My daughter said to me that daddy my birthday, I have not received my birthday present. I said okay, put your mother on the line, to give me account to where I should transfer the money. So, she refused to talk to me.
“I heard her, the girl said mummy, daddy wants to talk to you but she refused to talk to me. And she has traveled whiles in this but she refused to come”.
Responding to concerns by some party people including Prof Amoako Baah that the party may suffer defeat if Adwoa Safo is removed and a by election is staged.
“We want to loss the Kwabenya seat”, Prof Amoako Baah is reportedly ssid.
“We have lost the Dome-Kwabenya seat. We have lost by her behaviour we have lost,” Kennedy Agyapong said this on Accra based Asaase radio in response to Dr. Amoako Baah.
The continuous absence of Adwoa Safo from parliament has sparked so much controversy in the ruling government.
She has been at the centre of discussion for couple of weeks now, with her fellow MPs from the Majority side, particularly MP for New Juaben South, Michael Okyere Baafi and the MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong accusing her of sabotaging and holding the government and party in Parliament to ransom.
This is because the current hung Parliament with both the NPP and the NDC having 137 seats at piece, requires that every member from the NPP side must be present in the House for the Party to have any chance of pushing through every government policy or decision that requires Parliamentary approval.
However, Adwoa Safo, former Deputy Majority Leader who had been appointed Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection during this second term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is current absent from Parliament for couple of weeks now.
The Dome-Kwabenya legislator initially appears to be comfortable with her position after he was replaced by the MP for Efutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markins.
Interestingly, things appeared to have turned sour with her decision to terminate the appointment of Gertrude Quashigah as the boss of the Ghana School Feeding program was overturned and Mrs. Quashigah was reinstated by a higher authority.
She subsequently requested for a leave of office which was granted by the President.
But she has since refused to return to the House for government business to progress thereby making things very difficult for the Majority side in Parliament to cope without her due to the hung parliament.
One of such challenges the Majority are confronted with is the Budget statement and economic policy of the government for this year presented to Parliament by the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta where he announced introduction of the 1.75% levy on electronic transactions/transfers.
She therefore needed seriously the vote to pass the bill because her absence will not give the Majority side the required numbers to pass the bill since her absence has made it impossible for the Majority side to table the E-levy for consideration by parliament since the Minority will have urge over the Majority to once again reject the E-levy.
The unhaply Majority side have begun to pour out their frustration by calling out Adwoa Safo.
Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who campaigned for her vigorously during the last primaries, when she was on the verge of losing to Michael Oquaye Jnr, has accused Adowa Safo of holding the party to ransom.
According to him, the party must call Adwoa Safo bluff and sack her from the party and get the seat declared vacant.
The 1992 Constitution, Article 97(1c) and the Standing Orders of Parliament, particularly Orders 16 and 17 are very clear that MPs must attend parliamentary sittings regularly. The law stated that an MP must not absent himself or herself from 15 sittings in a meeting without a written permission from the Speaker and anyone who breaches this provision risks his or her seat being declared vacant by the Speaker.
It is clear from the records, the votes and proceedings, which is parliament’s official record of attendance and major happenings in parliament that Adwoa Safo has been absent since the beginning of this meeting.
What it means is that she has been absent for more than 15 days and is clearly in breach of the constitution and the standing orders. The law requires that in this situation, she be referred to the Privileges Committee to justify why she was absent and when she fails to give a reasonable justification, the Committee may recommend her seat to be declared vacant.
From the look of things, it does not appear that the Majority NPP can get the support of at least 45 NDC MPs to remove Adwoa Safo from Parliament.
Clearly, Adwoa Safo’s conduct is playing into the game plan of the NDC as her continuous absence means NDC is able to block the approval of the E-Levy.
By Vincent Kubi