Privileges Committee: We’ve Exhausted Means To Reach Adwoa Sarfo

The Privileges Committee of Parliament has indicated that it has utilised all avenues to reach Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya constituency, Sarah Adwoa Sarah but to no avail.

It will be recalled that on April 5, 2022, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin referred three New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament to the Committee of Privileges of Parliament over absenteeism.

The three are; Member of Parliament for Assin Central constituency, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya constituency, Sarah Adwoa Sarfo, and Member of Parliament for Ayawaso Central Constituency, Henry Quartey.

The Speaker of Parliament noted that records show that the three legislators have violated the fifteen sittings of a meeting of Parliament threshold as well as the permission in writing form directive.

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”.

But according to the Privileges Committee of Parliament, messages have been served on the absent female lawmaker who is currently in the United States of America (USA) attending to her “sick son”, through Emails, her residence, and publications.

Speaking in an interview on Eyewitness News monitored by opemsuo.com, the Cape Coast South Member of Parliament and Ranking Member on the Privileges Committee, Kwaku Rickett-Hagan, noted that a zoom link was also sent to her.

The Committee stated that Adwoa Sarfo has not responded to any of their messages.

“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.”

He added that the committee was not going to try any further to get to her unless she reached out herself.

Rickett-Hagan said they will communicate this to the Speaker, Alban Bagbin for his direction.

Meanwhile, Henry Quartey and Kennedy Agyapong have appeared before the committee with their reasons for their absence.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini