The Minority has refuted assertions made by Joseph Osei-Owusu (Joe Wise), the chairman of the Parliament's Privileges Committee, claiming Sarah Adwoa Safo, the MP for Dome Kwabenya, has had her seat declared empty.
Alhassan Bashir Alhassan (A.B.A) Fuseini, a committee member, stated the committee has yet to provide a report on the issue of missing MPs when speaking to the media in Parliament on Thursday, July 14.
The Sagnarigu MP stated that in the specific case of Sarah Adwoa Safo that although the Committee made every effort to contact her in order for her to appear before it, "the Clerk of the Committee made it abundantly clear that he cannot say for certain that the correspondence that Parliament sought to get over to her actually reached her."
He emphasised that since they haven't heard from Adwoa Safo, her position cannot be declared vacant in order to achieve this.
A. B. A. Fuseini argued that the Privileges Committee was not an autonomous decision-making body, citing Standing Order 161 of Parliament.
He emphasised that every decision made at the committee level must be presented to the House before any further action is taken.
No committee is an island unto itself, a law unto itself, or an authority. Once it is established, it makes choices and then puts them into action. Decisions cannot be carried out by the Committee. It submits it to the full body for a vote, after which the necessary steps will be taken by Mr. Speaker.
"Have you noticed anything about the Privileges Committee on the House floor? According to Standing Order 161 (b), when the Committee has submitted its report, the Chairman of the Committee must make a motion on the House's floor to adopt a resolution. then for Mr. Speaker to ask the query.
"Therefore, the House will decide on that. We haven't even had a chance to get a report laid, for the report to be brought before the House, for the House to even examine the report, and for a decision to be made on the subject. The lawmaker responded, "Look at all these measures.
As a result, Mr. Fuseini called Joe Wise's remarks "a malicious diatribe" made by "someone with a creative imagination for mischief."
Adwoa Safo's seat is automatically empty as a result of her inability to appear before the Privileges Committee, according to Joe Wise in an interview with Joy News.
He mentioned that the Committee's report had advised the Clerk to inform the Electoral Commission in writing of the vacancy in the House of Representatives.
Kennedy Agyapong and Henry Quartey are the other two, and all our report would say about them is that they came before the Committee, provided explanations, and the Committee found the reasons to be reasonable.
"She [Adwoa Safo] neglected to seize the opportunity provided to her...
She either failed to explain her absence or declined to do so. Therefore, in the lack of an explanation, the Constitution's Article 97(1)(a) takes effect, requiring her to give up her position, Joe Wise said.
"I believe it is the Clerk's responsibility, in line with the legislation, to proclaim [the seat empty] or notify the Electoral Commission that a vacancy has occurred. That is what the constitution states, and the House will see that in our report, he continued.