Former Assin Central Member of Parliament Kennedy Agyapong criticised the then Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, in February 2022 over her prolonged absence from Parliament while she was out of the country.

Agyapong accused Adwoa Safo of refusing to return to Ghana to perform her parliamentary duties due to what he described at the time as personal demands.

At the time, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) required the full presence of its Members of Parliament to approve government business, as the House was operating under a hung Parliament.

Agyapong, speaking in an interview on Asaase Radio, claimed that then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was being too lenient with Adwoa Safo, whom he accused of disrespecting the party.

According to him, the situation was undermining party discipline and weakening the government’s legislative agenda in Parliament.

Adwoa Safo defies family ties, urges Dome-Kwabenya delegates to vote for Bawumia

Read the full account of what Kennedy Agyapong said about Adwoa Safo at the time, as published by classfmonline.com on February 26, 2022.

Dome Kwabenya MP Sarah Adwoa Safo displayed rude behaviour to Chief of Staff Frema Osei Opare when the former Ayawaso West Wuogon MP visited the embattled Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, at her residence to try to convince her to join her fellow MPs on the majority side so they could get the e-levy passed in December last year, Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong has revealed.

Agyapong said after the Chief of Staff had flown Adwoa Safo down from the US on a private jet and even wired some GH¢120,000 to her account, Safo kept Osei Opare waiting at her gate for half an hour before allowing her in.

In an interview on Accra-based Asaase FM on Tuesday, 22 February 2022, the maverick MP, in responding to some criticisms thrown at the Akufo-Addo administration and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) by party stalwart Dr Richard Amoako Baah, in connection with calls by some prominent party figures to have Safo’s seat declared vacant due to her protracted absence from parliament, said the Safo, with whom he has two children, is holding the government to ransom.

“Yesterday, I read – I don’t know how far it is true – [that] Dr Amoako Baah was saying that President Akufo-Addo has not treated Adwoa Safo well, the party has not treated Adwoa Safo well.

“I respect Dr Amoako Baah very well, so, I want to inform him quietly and nicely; I’ll not insult, I’ll not do anything but let him know that there are fine gentlemen and women in the party that have made several efforts to talk to Adwoa. First is the President himself. I don’t know why he has a soft spot for Adwoa Safo. Two, it’s the Chief of Staff; three is Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and myself”, Agyapong began.

“Dr Amoako Baah, the treatment Adwoa Safo is giving to NPP today; if you think if Adwoa Safo’s seat is declared vacant, we are going to lose, we’ve already lost because the woman is in the name of NPP but she doesn’t come to parliament”.

“Now let me tell you; the true sons and daughters of NPP and how we think: NPP doesn’t belong to my family, it’s not an inheritance; we all, collectively believe in one ideology and joined the party, so, one person cannot impose his or her will on the party that, ‘this is the only thing that will make me join the party or do what you want me to do’. It is completely wrong”.

Agyapong, who has two children with Adwoa Safo continued: “I did surgery, I was recovering; I spoke to the Chief of Staff and she said: ‘Look, rest before you come’. This same woman who said I should rest, made the call through Hon Asiamah that: ‘Look, there’s e-levy going on and we have a problem and we need you although I said you should rest, we need your vote’”.

“I flew first class with Emirates but Asiamah, because they needed me, said: ‘Look, we are going to hire a private jet to come and pick you, people, up – Adwoa Safo, myself, Hon Henry Quartey and Hon Amoako-Attah.

“What I said to the minister is: ‘Please, I don’t want my name anywhere; you [give me] any flight because mine was going to be Monday and they needed the vote on Friday so the Thursday, I said, ‘any flight you get for me, I’ll come; I don’t want any private jet’”.

“Quartey drove from Philadelphia Dr Amoako Baah should listen carefully [about] all the efforts everybody has made, the commitment that we’ve all made Henry Quartey drove from Philadephia to New York, Kennedy Airport; Hon Amoako-Attah flew from Minnesota to New York, Airport; I drove from New Jersey to New York. Adwoa [was in] Boston – Dr Amoako Baah, what do you know – Adwoa Safo refused to come. And NPP people should listen carefully”.

“Adwoa Safo, they hired a private jet to bring the woman here and when she came she refused to come to parliament. She refused to come to parliament”.

“The Chief of Staff, after buying the ticket and flying her in, had to take a motorcade to Adwoa’s house; she [Chief of Staff] stood behind her [Adwoa Safo’s] gate for 30 minutes. What kind of rudeness is that? Before she opened [the gate].

“The Chief of Staff was made to sit at her [Adwoa Safo’s] living room for 35 minutes. When she [Adwoa Safo finally] came [to parliament], Bagbin was tired, he’s sick, he can’t wait. If you can’t get your numbers, so be it and we couldn’t vote. Going back [to the USA], she [Adwoa Safo] was demanding another private jet. Excuse me. Dr Amoako Baah, I’m sorry. You don’t know what has transpired”.

“They forced me to call Adwoa Safo; I placed a call through my daughter; 13 times, she [Adwoa Safo] refused to talk to me. What do you want us to do again?” “A chief has travelled to where she is just to convince her; she refused to come. If we lose [Dome] Kwabenya seat, we’ve already lost. By her behaviour, we’ve lost. So, if there is a by-election and we lose, we don’t lose anything. Case closed”.

“I applaud Dokua. Dokua had given birth and after two weeks, she left the baby to come here; the second one, she came. Adwoa says no and now look at her conditions: demanding to be made a deputy majority leader and the announcement of the removal of Alexander Afenyo-Markin from that position.

“I had gone to Chief of Staff’s office to plead on behalf of Adwoa; she said, ‘my brother, please don’t go there. If you are saying A, B, C, D, I’ve just spoken to her: these are her demands’. So, I said, well, I’ve done my part.

“I’ve kids with her but it’s gotten to this point. This is purely politically. I think she’s wrong. She should rather apologise to the party. They should stop begging her”.

“Adwoa Safo; Chief of Staff called me, I went there. She [Chief of Staff] said now this is what she [Adwoa Safo] is saying; I swear on my mother’s grave; Chief of Staff gave me GH¢120,000, deposited in Adwoa Safo’s Fidelity Bank account.

“I put the money there in her Fidelity [Bank] account. Ask her PA if what I’m saying is not the truth. The way Adwoa is treating the party, it’s clearly showing that we are in opposition and this should not be tolerated at all”.

Meanwhile, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has urged delegates of the NPP ahead of the party’s upcoming flagbearer election not to vote for Kennedy Agyapong whom she has two children with.

TWI NEWS

Addressing party supporters, Adwoa Safo questioned the suitability of electing a candidate she says has a history of verbally attacking women.

“Are you going to elect a candidate who insults women? How will women vote? Are you going to cast your vote for someone who insults women? Didn’t Hon Kennedy Agyapong insult me when my issue came up?” she asked.

Adwoa Safo also recalled the insults directed at her by Agyapong, saying he called her “disrespectful,” accused her of misusing taxpayers’ money, and claimed she was being “pampered by President Akufo-Addo.”

She added that Agyapong also criticised her father for not being able to “sanction or discipline” her.

“He said I am disrespectful, that I have spent taxpayers’ money, and that I am being pampered by Akufo-Addo. He said I was useless and that my father couldn’t sanction or discipline me. He said these things, and the videos are there,” she recalled.

Safo warned that electing Agyapong could be politically damaging for the NPP, as she believes the opposition could exploit his past actions.

“If you don’t listen and go ahead to elect him, that will be a problem. The NDC is waiting for you [delegates] to elect him so they can use his records and videos of insulting people, including me, the mother of his two kids, and so imagine what he will do to you,” she cautioned.

AM

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