Adwoa Safo ‘fights back’ as pressure mounts over presence during budget voting

Parliament approves 2022 budget

Samuel Okudzeto claims Adwoa Safo was not in parliament

The Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya and Minister of Gender, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has replied Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the MP for North Tongu over his earlier claims that the former might not have been in the House on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, when the budget was approved under controversial circumstances.

Sarah Adwoa Safo had been away from the House for a while but during Tuesday’s sitting, she showed up and had little interactions with her colleagues present (all members of the Majority caucus). Rumours have been rife that the MP might have been replaced by someone else in that sitting.

Speaking on JoyFM and monitored by GhanaWeb, Okudzeto Ablakwa indicated how they, on the Minority, had doubts if she was indeed the one in the House on the said date.

“Following pictures and videos we are reviewing this morning; it is becoming quite apparent to us that there may be a case of impersonation with regards to the lady who was presented as Adwoa Safo. It’s beginning to appear that she may not be Adwoa Safo,” he said.

But the Dome-Kwabenya MP, while breaking her silence on the matter on the floor of the House on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, said that it was an insult that her colleague would infer such a thing.

“Mr. Speaker, I also want to state on record, Mr. Speaker, this is a House of Records and as a former Deputy Majority Leader of this House, I was present in this House yesterday and to state categorically that I cannot force Honourable Okudzeto, who is my friend on the other side, to dress the way I want him to dress and that is an insult on womanhood,” she said.

The Minority has insisted that they would still investigate the claims on whether or not Sarah Adwoa Safo was indeed the one in the House on the day the budget was approved.

The Minority has also indicated that it has 27 videos to prove that the Minister of Gender is not the one who was in the House on the said day.