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Seasoned Journalist, Kweku Baako, has expressed utter surprise at the Minority in Parliament's new found love for an absentee NPP MP.

His reaction comes in the wake of an attempt by certain members of their caucus to block a petition to drag Lawyer Sarah Adwoa Safo to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.

Lawyer Adwoa Safo, Dome/Kwabenya MP, together with two other MPs, Henry Quartey of Ayawaso Central constituency and Kennedy Agyapong, Assin Central, has been referred to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges by the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin.

The three MPs have been referred to the Committee for absenting themselves from Parliament for more than 15 sittings which is against the standing orders of Parliament.

Petition 

A petition by Ras Mubarak, a former Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, to the Speaker read; “It has come to my notice through parliament’s Hansard, and newspaper and radio reports that some four Members of Parliament, namely Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo, MP for Dome-Kwabenya; Hon. Henry Quartey, MP for Ayawaso Central; Hon. Ebenezer Kojo Kum, MP for Ahanta West; and Hon. Ken Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central have all absented themselves from Parliament for more than fifteen sittings of a meeting of Parliament without the permission of Mr. Speaker in writing.

“In view of this reported breach of the constitutional provision, I respectfully petition your high office to direct for their conduct to be referred to the Privileges Committee for consideration and necessary action.”

The Speaker accepted the petition based on Article 97(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution which states that a Member of Parliament shall vacate his seat “if he 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”.

Minority's Defence 

But Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak has built a defence for Lawyer Adwoa Safo.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Muntaka Mubarak revealed the reasons for Adwoa Safo’s absence from Parliament saying her reason has got to do with her children.

He explained that the children are at risk of being separated from their mother by the American Social Welfare Department.

“She’s talking about her children and if she’s not careful Social Welfare in America will seize these children. We cannot pretend to say that that’s not a serious thing. We can’t,” he said.

This explanation, he disclosed, was contained in the letter she wrote to the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, seeking a leave of absence after her party leadership in Parliament had refused to recommend her leave of absence to the Speaker. 

He added he's defending Adwoa Safo because he believes it's unfair for her to be listed among the truant MPs.

“Is she overstretching this? I know because of the numbers and the difficulty we find ourselves – this has never been an issue. Evans, I’m one who has constantly raised on the floor of Parliament about absenteeism from Parliament.

“You remember before the 2020 elections when…it’s not important, don’t add constituencies because the 275 that you have, I can’t even put my hand on a good 100 that are even doing the work. I’ve said all these things before, so I’m not just defending unnecessarily,” he told the JoyNews interviewer.

Soft Spot For Adwoa Safo

But Kweku Baako is shocked that the Minority Chief Whip is defending Adwoa Safo, the same person he and his colleagues once claimed had been impersonated during a parliamentary sitting on the 2022 budget.

It could be recalled that the Minority claimed that Adwoa Safo wasn't in Parliament but rather someone had been arranged to sit in for her posing like her just so the NPP MPs will have a majority number to vote to approve the budget.

Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', Mr. Baako wondered why the U-turn by the Minority to speak for Adwoa Safo.

"It appears there is a certain soft spot from the Minority side for Adwoa Safo. I don't understand it. This same lady was accused by the Minority that she has allowed herself to be impersonated. What is the status of that case?", he queried.

To him, the fact that Hon. Muntaka is defending her means they told Ghanaians a lie when they said the NPP Majority had impersonated her.

" . . between me and you, it was a bloody lie. It was a fabrication of the highest order, on the Minority side . . . Conspicuously, they are silent on that allegation of impersonation. Yes, because it was a fabrication but I find it interesting that slowly but surely, progressively, they have disengaged from that path," he said.