Adwoa Sarfo Shows Up In Parliament

Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya Constituency, Sarah Adwoa Sarfo has for the first time this year attended a Parliamentary meeting.

She showed up in Parliament on Friday, November 11, 2022.

Opemsuo radio’s Parliamentary correspondent, Kwaku Bofah, captured her in Parliament dressed in a red blazer jacket over a pair of trousers.

On Monday, October 7, she announced her presence in the country after almost a year of her absence in a Facebook post.

“Yesterday, I fellowshipped with Clergy and Congregation of the Taifa Pentecost, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church CFC and the Israel King of Jews Church.

“I used the opportunity to thank God for the care, guidance and protection of my family during my challenging times over the last one year and sought the face of God for Grace to serve my constituents diligently,” she posted alongside some pictures.

Her fellow MPs in the Majority Caucus seek to declare the Dome Kwabenya Parliamentary seat vacant.

Adwoa Sarfo was referred to the Privileges Committee in Parliament together with two others on April 5, 2022, by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin for absenting themselves from 15 Parliamentary sittings without permission.

The referral was in accordance with Article 97 (1)(c) of the constitution which says that a seat in Parliament will be declared vacant “if he (an MP) is absent, without the permission in writing of the Speaker and he is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges from fifteen sittings of a meeting of Parliament during any period that Parliament has been summoned to meet and continues to meet”.

According to the Committee, all efforts to reach the female MP proved futile as she refused to make herself available for hearing by the committee on several occasions.

“Every member of Parliament has records here. Once you sign up as a member here, information is collected from you as to your place of abode, your email address, etc. We have exhausted and we didn’t hear from her. She made an appearance on Joy where she said she wasn’t served. So we went further to make sure that we reached her.

“We went through our Standing Orders 205 which in addition to the place of abode and other things, says, if all fails, we can send a publication to try and look for her. If I say we have exhausted all means, it means within the constraints of the laws and options available to us, including emails, personal assistance and then publishing. It is through these means with the exception of the publishing that a zoom link was actually sent to her. We did not hear from her,” the Cape Coast South Member of Parliament and Ranking Member on the Privileges Committee, Kwaku Rickett-Hagan said during an interview on July 7.

After the Committee’s work, it sought to declare the Dome Kwabenya seat vacant, referencing Article 97 (1)(c) of the constitution, however, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on October 26 held that the committee’s report must be subjected to a plenary debate. He reiterated that he has the sole authority to declare a seat vacant.

“As I have noted in this ruling, the decision as to whether or not to admit a motion is the exclusive preserve of the Speaker. In view of the foregoing, the House is well within its rights to receive and consider the report of the Committee and make a determination arising out of the recommendation,” Mr Bagbin ruled according to JoyNews.

The former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection earlier told the nation she was attending to family issues in the United States.

But the Member of Parliament for Asawase Constituency and Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, Muntaka Mubarak later revealed Adwoa Sarfo was in America to avoid losing custody over her kids to the United States Social Welfare.

He noted that the female MP was on the verge of losing her kids and therefore needed to remain there.

Additionally, he revealed that the Dome Kwabenya Member of Parliament didn’t stay away from Parliamentary sittings all the while without going through the Parliamentary laid down procedures.

He recounted that “I’m reliably informed that she wrote leave of absence and her leadership refused to recommend it to the Speaker. She wrote a leave of absence citing her children and challenges but because her leadership needed her at all costs, refused to recommend.

“So she noticed along the line that she is constantly being marked absent so this time around, she wrote a letter with another leave of absence directly to Mr Speaker that ‘Mr. Speaker, I’m supposed to seek permission from you but the rules of this House are such that I have to pass it through my leadership and I’ve noticed that my leadership has refused to recommend my leave of absence so I’m writing directly to you’.

“Getting this, Mr. Speaker wrote to her leadership, the same leadership that had refused to recommend her leave of absence. What the Majority leader said was that ‘I’m not aware’ and based on that the Speaker refused to grant the leave of absence”.

Upon her return, she has assured her constituents of her commitment to the development the constituency.

“I assured the congregation of my commitment to continue as their Hard Working Member of Parliament and work hand in hand with them to bring development to the constituency,” her post on November 7 said.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini