Adwoa Sarfo apologizes but Dome Kwabenya says we get out!

Famed for her absence from Parliament and successfully making the privileges committee of the house look more like a kindergarten class assembled to address upper primary students than a serious committee of Ghana’s parliament, Sarah Adwoa Sarfo is in the news again. The Dome Kwabenya MP notably absented herself from Parliament for a very long time and that kept her seat under threat as she risked losing it. She even dodged the Privileges Committee which was tasked with investigating her absence.

Following a wild public uproar and general anger by both her colleagues from the Majority side of Parliament and NPP members and Ghanaians, Adwoa Sarfo was sacked by the president from her position as the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection in July 2022.

However, over a year since the incident, the MP has rendered a supposedly unreserved apology to the President, his vice, the Chief of Staff, the Majority group in Parliament, NPP executives and her constituents. She said her actions were unintended to have the outcome they had and she acted that way because she was dealing with some issues as an individual and a family member.

To err is man, to forgive is divine; they say, and the people to whom her apology has been directed have accepted her apology. However, a core part of those people have already come out to express their minds about her apology and what they have decided to do with her.

Executives of the NPP in the Dome Kwabenya constituency have said they have decided against going to the next elections with their current lawmaker. According to Theophilus Larbi, Secretary of the party in the constituency, they have accepted her apology but cannot choose her as their candidate for the 2024 elections.

Speaking in an interview with Citinews, Mr Larbi said, “If she has rendered an unqualified apology, who are we as humans to say we are not taking it? We have accepted her apology, but what does she want us to do for her after the apology? Probably, if she’s interested in the seat again, then what I will say as a constituency secretary is that we are sorry.

“The reason being that we are the representation of the people in this constituency. The majority of the people say that if we bring Hon Adwoa Safo back again, they will not vote for the party. And as a person and officer who means well for this party should listen, because we are delegates of this party.

According to Mr Larbi, the people Adwoa Sarfo is serving, the Dome Kwabenya constituents are not excited about what happened and want a new person to lead the party in the constituency. “The majority of people are not happy about what happened. She has apologised, severally but I’m sorry we have the men and women. As far as I am concerned, it can no longer be Adwoa Safo. Dome Kwabenya cannot be represented by her.”