‘It’ll Be Best To Declare Unrepresented Dome-Kwabenya Seat Vacant’ – ACEPA

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Following the long absence of the Member of Parliament(MP) for Dome-Kwabenya, Adwoa Safo, The African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) has called for a declaration of the seat as vacant.

According to the Executive Director of the Center, Dr. Rasheed Draman, the people in the constituency have been left unrepresented for a long time.

“The people of Dome-Kwabenya have been left unrepresented for long. If she [Adwoa Safo] can no longer represent them, it is best the seat is declared vacant,” Citinewsroom.com quoted the ACEPA Director as having said.

Dr. Rasheed Draman was speaking on the back of Sarah Adwoa Safo’s failure to appear before the Privileges Committee of Parliament after many attempts to ensure same.

In an interview with Kweku George Ricketts-Hagan, Ranking Member on the Committee he stated that the committee feels disrespected by the MP, who doubles as a Cabinet Minister’s decision to ignore their invitation.

But ACEPA Director says parliament owes Ghanaians some answers regarding the subject of the Dome-Kwabenya MP.

“This whole issue of she has not been served by the Privileges Committee, and all others, the question is what are the procedures on how long a Minister of State can be absent from duty? Do we have anything that guides that in running our country? If not, our leaders have some questions to answer. There are a lot of questions to be answered on this whole Adwoa Safo issue. Parliament owes us some answers.

“Our Parliament is looking like one that cannot regulate itself. This is sending very bad signals out there and if nothing is done about it, Parliament may lose respect among the populace,” he said.

Adwoa Safo, together with two other NPP MPs, Kennedy Agyapong, and Henry Quartey, were hauled before parliament’s Privileges Committee for failing to attend to the business of the house for over 15 consecutive sittings without proper permission. The two others have since appeared and explained that medical reasons kept them away from the House