The Africa Centre for Women in Politics has condemned what it views to be an attempt by some members of the governing New Patriotic Party to hound out the Member of Parliament Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo.
The think tank in a statement issued on Monday, February 14, 2022, expressed disappointment in the Members of Parliament for Assin North and New Juaben South for seeking to tarnish the image of Adwoa Safo.
It stated the views aired by the aforementioned persons are targeted at making the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection unpopular.
“We have observed with deep concern the recent vitriolic attacks on Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo, Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya Constituency and Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection. The first of such attacks came from her colleague male Member of Parliament for New Juaben South and a Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Michael Kofi Okyere Baafi who alleged that Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo is sabotaging the New Patriotic Party, (NPP), government by her continuous absence from Parliament. This was followed by similar utterances by another male colleague Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central constituency claims her conduct is tantamount to holding the governing NPP to ransom.
”We are equally disappointed in Mr. Ben Ephson, editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper and pollster, who we expect to know better, for advocating that the NPP should call Hon Sarah Adwoa Safo’s bluff by sacking her and calling for a by-election which the NPP could easily win since Dome-Kwabenya is its stronghold.
”We view this development as a well-calculated attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It is nothing but a well-calculated attempt by the two male MPs and the male editor/pollster to make Hon. Adwoa Safo looks bad in the eyes of the public, her constituents and especially members of the NPP,” he said.
The group in the statement said it is worried that one of the leading females in Ghana’s Parliament is being hunted by members of her own party.
It stressed the need to protect female MPs and observed that the vile attacks and vitriolic against women are major reasons for their low representation in politics.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, research has shown that one of the reasons that account for the low participation of women in politics is the acrimonious nature of the male-dominated enterprise that shoves women away to make it a preserve for men only.
"It is the view of the Centre that these attacks from her colleague MPs are unjustified, unwarranted, mischievous and most unfortunate. We are aware that the many male MPs absent themselves from Parliament for similar periods without such calls for them to be sacked.”
The think tank further called on the New Patriotic Party and Parliament as an institution to offer Sarsj Adwoa Safo the maximum support she needs to navigate the early stages of motherhood.
“First of all, absence from parliament is permitted subject to the leave of absence from the Speaker of Parliament. We are reliably informed that the complaining MPs in question are fully aware that Hon. Adwoa Safo has been receiving medical attention for the past few months which also accounted for her leave from ministerial duties.
"It is our considered view that this is the time Hon. Adwoa Safo deserves the support of her colleagues in Parliament and for that matter the leadership of the NPP to go through these difficult times as a nursing mother,” parts of the statement read.
Read the full statement below:
Alimatu Issahaka, Executive Director of African Centre for Women In Politics