By Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, Nov. 11, GNA – Madam Sarah Adwoa Safo, Member of Parliament, Dome-Kwabenya, returned to Parliament on Friday after almost a year stay outside the country.
The former Deputy Majority Leader requested a leave of absence in 2021 to attend to personal issues.
However, a statement dated Wednesday, October 6, 2021, signed and issued by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, explained that Madam Safo’s leave was to have ended August 31, 2021, but was further extended indefinitely.
Making her first appearance, Madam Safo said: “Today is the first day and I am hoping that subsequent weeks are going to be good.”
“…ooh, it feels good to be back, that is all I can say,” she told the Parliamentary Press Corps on Friday.
She also extended her warm regards to her constituents.
The former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection was living in the United States of America and had a series of queries about her continuous absence from Parliament.
She was subsequently removed from office as a Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on July 28, 2022.
Parliament’s Privileges Committee tried severally to get Madam Safo to appear before it, following Speaker Alban Bagbin’s referral of the case of absentee MPs to the Committee without success.
As a result, the committee had failed to reach a consensus in its recommendations on whether absenting herself for more than the mandatory 15 days without permission warranted her seat being declared vacant.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader, in October took strong exception to the Speaker of Parliament’s decision to direct the plenary to debate the fate of Madam Safo and two other legislators over absenteeism.
He said the Speaker erred in referring the matter back to the House, explaining that the ruling flies in the face of the constitution and threatened to challenge the decision.
GNA