Adwoa Safo can seek re-election - Constituency Chairman.

The Dome-Kwabenya Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Robert Osei-Bonsu, has said nothing stops the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Sarah Adwoa Safo, from seeking re-election in 2024.

He said the NPP as a democratic party would not stop any member of the party, including Ms. Safo, who had the intention to contest the party’s parliamentary primary from going through the processes when nominations opened in constituencies the party had sitting MPs.

Per the timelines issued by the party, nominations would be opened on December 20, 2023, and closed on January 4, 2024, in constituencies where the NPP has sitting MPs, followed by election on February 24, 2024.

Processes

Mr. Osei-Bonsu, who was responding to the decision by Ms. Safo to go for re-election as the NPP MP for Dome-Kwabenya, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, however said she had to go through the party’s processes of selecting its parliamentary candidates before she could contest again on the ticket of the party in 2024.

That, he said, included going for vetting after filing her nomination, saying as a three-term MP for the constituency, nothing stopped her from contesting for the fourth time but that would depend on the party’s processes for electing its parliamentary candidates. 

“For her going for re-election, it will depend on what the party will say during her vetting and the constituents,” Mr. Osei-Bonsu stated. 

Intention

Ms. Safo, who entered Parliament in 2012 made her intentions known while speaking to journalists after touring the constituency.

Her decision to go for re-election comes on the heels of a public apology she offered to the President, the Vice-President, and the leadership of the NPP in a video she posted on her Facebook last week for what she said were actions that affected the party.

Recall 

 Ms. Safo was away for almost a year, leaving a vacuum in Parliament and the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, where she served as Minister.

The Dome-Kwabenya NPP MP was referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament by the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, last year, to explain her absence from Parliament without permission for more than 15 sittings as spelt out by the 1992 Constitution.

She however failed to appear before the committee.

The Privileges Committee of Parliament decided to leave the determination of her fate to the entire plenary.

 After a debate on the report by Parliament, the Speaker, Mr. Bagbin, deferred his ruling on Ms. Safo.

At stake was whether the Dome- Kwabenya seat should be declared vacant after Ms. Safo did not honor her summons by the Privileges Committee which considered her absenteeism.

Speaking after the debate on the report by the committee, Mr. Bagbin said he needed time to submit a written ruling.