The Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, was conspicuously missing at the first anniversary and thanksgiving of the National Executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The National Executives of the NPP on Sunday 16th July 2023, held its first anniversary and thanksgiving at the Atomic Pentecost International Worship Centre.
In attendance was Mr. Stephen Ayensu Ntim the National Chairman of the party, The Third Vice Chairman of the NPP, Massawudu Osman, General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, Dr Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko Deputy General Secretary, Prof Haruna Mohammed, Deputy General Secretary, Henry Nana Boakye, National Organiser, Richard Ahiagbah, the Director of Communications, Chris Lloyd, Deputy National Organiser and Salam Mustapha, the National Youth Organiser.
Other dignitaries of the NPP that attended the thanksgiving included William Yamoah Director of Finance and Administration of the Party, Rev. Ernest Kwabena Boafo, Hajia Sadia a former deputy women’s organizer, the Madina Constituency Chairman Mr. Foster Arthur, the Dome-Kwabena Chairman Robert Osei Bonsu, Mr. Kwabena Frimpong the Deputy Protocol director of the NPP, constituency executives of Madina, Dome-Kwabenya, and Ayawaso West Wuogon as well as some Greater Accra regional executives of the party.
For a program of such magnitude, taking place in any MP’s constituency, they will take advantage of it and make their presence felt. However, conspicuously missing in action was Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo, the sitting MP for Dome-Kwabenya. At the end of the Thanksgiving, the constituency chairman of Dome-Kwabenya, Mr. Robert Osei Bonsu made some cash donations to the church on behalf of Mr. Michael Oquaye Junior, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Free Zones Authority.
The absence of Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo brings to mind a plethora of rhetorical questions not to be answered but thought-provoking. Has the road come to an end for Hon. Adwoa Safo? Are her constituents fed up with her political shenanigans? Has she lost base with the grassroots of Dome Kwabenya or it is a sign that she might not contest for the Dome-Kwabenya seat again? Is Michael Oquaye preferred in her stead?
In parliamentary elections, when you don’t have the support and machinations of your constituency chairman, the tendency that you will lose the primaries is very high. If the constituency chairman of Dome-Kwabenya, made a donation on behalf of Mike Oquaye Junior, who it is trite knowledge to have been eyeing the Dome Kwabenya seat, then Hon. Adwoa Safo has an uphill battle in the primaries.
It can be surmised that Mr. Michael Oquaye Junior, given the opportunity would have joined the NPP executives, but for a smart move by the executives not to be perceived as throwing their support behind a particular candidate in the coming primaries of the NPP.
The promising lawyer who shot into the limelight has gradually become unpopular at the very beginning of the 8th Parliament. It is alleged that she is the chief suspect who voted on the side of the NPP for Alban Sumana Kingsford to become the current Speaker of Parliament in an acrimonious revenge against Prof. Michael Oquaye the representative of the NPP for the position of the Speaker of Parliament.
It must be noted that Prof Michael Oquaye’s son Michael Ocquaye Junior contested Hon. Adwoa Safo in the 2020 primaries against the party directive that leaders of the Majority in Parliament should contest unopposed.
Due to the Hung nature of the 8th Parliament, the presence of Members of Parliament was very key to getting the enactment of bills and other votes on the floor of the chamber. In the peak of the heat, when the numbers were needed by the NPP to get the passage of the Electronic Transfer levy bill into law, Hon, Adwoa Safo was nowhere to be found. She was also absent during the voting of some six ministerial nominees and the supreme court of Ghana.
Per article 97(1) of the 1992 constitution, a legislator shall vacate their seat if he or she is absent for 15 sittings of a meeting of parliament. This shall be done if the said MP is absent without permission in writing to the speaker and is also not able to give a reasonable explanation to the privileges committee of Parliament. Her absence in Parliament in 2022 amounted to 40 sittings and her matter was referred to the privileges committee of parliament. It was the Minority in parliament that jumped to the defense of Hon. Sarah Adwoa.
The likes of Joseph Osei Owusu aka Joe Wise MP for Bekwai, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu MP for Suame, Hon. Michael Okeyere Baafi MP for New Juabeng South, and Hon. Kennedy Agyepong MP for Assin Central, criticized her for blackmailing her party and copiously called for her seat to be declared vacant and be sacked as the then Gender Children and Social Protection Minister.
It is obvious that the once admired Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo, is no longer loved by her party because of the events of the 8th parliament. There are doubts as to whether she will be part of the 9th Parliament. As a political analyst, I anticipate an uphill task for the legislator in the upcoming primaries. The grievances are one too many. She seems to have lost touch with the people of Dome-Kwabenya. Research conducted by the global info analytics however has revealed that the NPP will have a herculean task to retain the Dome-Kwabenya Seat if Hon.Sarah Adwoa Safo does not contest the 2024 elections. Recent polls put Elikplim Akurugu ahead of Sarah Adwoa Safo. Are these events going to dash the Dome-Kwabenya seat to the NDC? Only time will tell!
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