The Member of Parliament representing the Dome-Kwabenya Constituency, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has provided an explanation for her extended absence from parliament during a meeting with traders and market women in the Dome market area.
Facing public criticism for her absence from her parliamentary duties for over a year, the MP conveyed that she had to attend to various challenges, including matters concerning her children, as any responsible woman would do.
According to her, the devil had a hand in her long absence, as this was not the handiwork of God.
“I’ve already met a lot of you at home and explained why you didn’t hear from me for over a year and a half. I know that being my mothers, sisters and aunties; you understand certain things.
“As women there are times you need to go through what women go through or do what women do. What really accounted for my absence, I know it is slanted but not broken.
“Along the line, my first male child suffered a certain illness and I had to leave, which in my thinking was supposed to be for a short time to go and fix my home. But the devil who had other plans against God’s work, did not allow things to go that way,” she explained.
During a period of intense political turmoil in Ghana’s currently evenly divided parliament, Adwoa Safo, who was serving as the Minister for Children, Gender, and Social Protection, was notably absent from her post. This absence resulted in a critical shortage of a single vote for the ruling party in advancing government initiatives within the legislative body.
Accusations emerged suggesting that she was undermining her own party, prompting fervent calls for her removal from both parliament and her position within the executive branch of government.
However, her prolonged absence was attributed to a series of distressing circumstances, one of which involved threats from the US government to assume custody of her two children.
Seth Kofi Osei Kissi, the spokesperson for Adwoa Safo, revealed these details during an interview with Kwabena Mensah Abrompah on Radio Universe on September 20, 2023.
Kissi explained that one of the reasons for Adwoa Safo’s absence was a threat she had received concerning the potential loss of custody of her children.
He also disclosed that another contributing factor to Adwoa Safo’s absence was the tragic loss of her newborn child shortly after giving birth.
According to Kissi, when Adwoa Safo traveled to the US, she was confronted with the threat that her children, a boy and a girl, would be taken away from her if she did not take appropriate measures. It was her son who had a medical condition that was of particular concern.
“You see, the white culture and ours are two separate things, they have a way of taking care of children, ladies, and animals, but when you come here, it is different, so the whites were serious about that.
“The issue overpowered her, she thought it was something minor but when she went and realized the severe nature of it, and how her child had been going to the hospital to-and-fro, her own father and her family even lost communication with her.
“The issue took over her life to the extent that she didn’t know what to do because going to give birth and losing your child and your other one is also having a problem but God was able to intervene on her behalf, so, it is all about pleading with everybody for forgiveness.”
In the meantime, the Member of Parliament, who has now returned to the country and resumed her parliamentary duties, albeit without her ministerial role, has declared her intention to seek re-election to parliament.
She has also offered her apologies to her constituency members and her political party for her previous absence and is currently conducting stakeholder consultations in preparation for the NPP’s upcoming parliamentary primaries.