The impending debate in Parliament intended to decide the future of the Dome-Kwabenya seat could become chaotic, according to Dr. Rasheed Draman, Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA).
According to Dr. Draman’s research, Sarah Adwoa Safo of the New Patriotic Party, who currently occupies the seat, has established positions in both the Majority and Minority caucuses.
While the minority is opposed to it, the majority favors her removal.
There will be chaos in Parliament, just like there was when the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) was passed, he continued, if the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, is not there and any of his deputies who preside insist on participating in the vote.
“There are a lot of things at stake. My impression from visiting the House is that one of the MPs is very ill. Assuming that person is still receiving treatment and is not in Parliament, this implies that the NPP has 136 members, followed by the NDC side, which now has 136 members due to an injunction in Assin North.
“Which means, we have a real, real hung Parliament. So that if you even need a simple majority and the NDC side says look none of them is going to support a motion to remove her, support the report of the Privileges Committee, then the NPP loses the vote. Because 136, 136 and you need a simple majority, you need 1 or 2 from the NDC.
“Assuming the Right Hon. Speaker is absent on that day, it becomes a disadvantage to the NPP. Let’s pray we don’t have a fight. Like we have seen in previous circumstances,” he said.
In the meantime, Henry Boakye-Yiadom, an Akwatia MP and member of the Privileges Committee, stated in an interview with Citi TV that the committee decided by a vote of 15 to 12 that Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong and Ayawaso Central MP Henry Quartey’s justifications for absenting themselves without permission were sufficient and that they should not lose their seats.
Adwoa Safo failed to appear before the committee to give a justification for her absences from the House since December 2021, he continued, which prevented the committee from making a decision on her. He continued by saying that the plenary would decide what to do about Adwo Safo.
Unconfirmed reports, however, suggest that in the committee’s report delivered to the House, Adwoa Safo’s removal was suggested by the majority of the committee’s members.
Ras Mubarak, a former member of parliament, petitioned Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, speaker of the house, to remove the three New Patriot Party members for skipping more than 15 consecutive sittings during the first session of the eighth parliament. Bagbin then referred the members to the Privileges Committee of the House.