Adwoa Safo Bombshells: Five Major Highlights From Former Dome-Kwabenya MP Interview

Former Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, opened up about her time in politics over the last four years, culminating in her being booted out of Parliament

Former Dome-Kwabenya MP Sarah Adwoa Safo captured media attention after a tell-it-all interview where she touched on her time as a legislator, fissures within the New Patriotic Party and major controversies in Parliament.

Speaking on Asempa FM's Ekosiisen on March 18, she made some allegations that left some Ghanaians in awe and confirmed suspicions some people had watching from the outside in.

Adwoa Safo is out of Parliament because she lost the primary to Mike Oquaye Jnr after years of controversy brought on by her leave of absence in the US and her eventual sacking from the gender minister portfolio and demotion in Parliament.

Delegates in Dome-Kwabenya voiced overwhelming opposition to Adwoa Safo and called for a change in the build-up to the January 27 2024 primary.

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Some of them described Adwoa Safo as a TikTok MP because of the content she had posted there and reminded of her long absence from her role as a legislator.

Five major highlights from Adwoa Safo's interview

Role of NPP members in her primary loss

Safo claimed her recent loss in the parliamentary primaries was a result of a misunderstanding by her party, the NPP.

Despite the cloud of controversy over her head, she felt some of her actions were misinterpreted leading the party to punish her with a loss in the primaries.

“That’s what I think the party misunderstood me on and decided to punish me, and that cost me my primaries.”

Backing of Carlos Ahenkorah's electoral crime

Safo defended the former Tema West MP, Carlos Ahenkorah after he decided to run off with and chew ballot papers during a critical Parliament election on January 7, 2021.

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Safo felt the NPP should be grateful to Ahenkorah for saving the party’s reputation with his widely condemned action because it saved the party from disgrace in the election they went on to lose.

“Why do you think Carlos went to [grab] the papers and destroy them? He knew that if the number of ‘no’ votes had been revealed, it would have been a disgrace for the NPP, so he had to act swiftly, but he suffered for it."

Revelations around the controversial e-levy vote

Safo said she abstained from voting on the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) in 2022 because she felt it would not help Ghana. This has raised more questions than answers given there was a masked woman in her seat during the vote.

At the time, the NPP side of Parliament was accused of bringing in an imposter to cast a deciding vote on the e-levy given the single seat difference between the two caucuses in Parliament. Safo maintained that she was in Parliament.

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Defence of Bawumia

The former Dome-Kwabenya MP condemned any attempt to blame the NPP's presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, for the devastating election loss.

She also had some words of advice for Professor Mike Oquaye, who is leading a probe of the NPP's election loss.

“What has he done? They don’t want to speak the truth. If you are a flagbearer, but the Vice President, when you say something, they will take it only if it serves their purpose."

"Prof Mike Oquaye should find out what happened in the Dome-Kwabenya constituency first before preparing his report. Dome-Kwabenya should be number one. He has to let us know why his son lost in his bid to become MP for that constituency. He should explain that before blaming Dr Bawumia."

Sidelining in Parliament

Safo, who also served as Deputy Majority Leader, is upset at how she was treated after being demoted in Parliament.

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She revealed that she was moved to the backbench like a first-time MP.

"Everybody denied involvement in the action. The Majority Whip is responsible for seating arrangements, so how did he not know that I was not properly allocated a seat?"

Safo noted that the situation was eventually rectified after the NPP General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, and Deputy Majority Leader, Habib Iddrisu, intervened.

Adwoa Safo's troubles

After a contentious absence lasting months in the early part of the Akufo-Addo administration, Safo returned to Ghana in November 2022.

The MP took a long break from her parliamentary duties to attend to her private family business in the US.

Safo's prolonged absence from her legislative role nearly cost her her seat as party officials and the leadership of the Majority Caucus initiated an action to kick her out.

President Akufo-Addo also sacked her as gender minister after over a year of continuous absence from work.

Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.

Source: YEN.com.gh