Parliament’s attendance register ‘mysteriously’ marks Adwoa Safo present despite being absent for months now

There was drama in Parliament on Monday when the attendance register for Friday’s sitting mysteriously captured the name of the Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo.

This was after the Adentan MP, Mohammed Adamu Ramadan drew the attention of the House to what had been recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.

Raising the issue on the floor of the house on Monday, April 4, 2022, Mr Ramadan said: “Just out of curiosity, page 7, number 225, Sarah Adwoa Safo has been marked as present. I don’t know whether the table office is giving effect to the Speaker’s ruling that you don’t have to be physically present in the Chamber to be captured. I don’t know if Adwoa Safo is back in this jurisdiction.”

This led to confusion in the Chamber amid arguments by some that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, had ruled that MPs can be marked present if they are within the precincts of Parliament.

This triggered debate as MP for Ho West described that ruling as problematic and called on the House to bring finality to the matter as it will encourage MPs not to enter the chamber.

“It has been Speaker upon Speaker’s conclusion that when you come to the chamber, the first thing you should do is to sign and you Speaker (Joseph Osei-Owusu) have said the same thing that for anybody to come to this chamber and go for a Committee meeting, it should not be recorded as being in attendance in the Chamber.”

“So for a new ruling that you can be anywhere at all within the premises and you’d be counted as coming to Parliament or be in the Chamber, Mr Speaker (Joseph Osei-Owusu), I think this House must make a decision on this matter. Otherwise, we can all be in our offices and claim that we have come to Parliament,” he added.

But in a sharp rebuttal, the Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, explained that Speaker Bagbin said one could only be captured as present when he or she is in the chamber.

“I don’t think the Speaker’s ruling was that members could be absent or present without being on the floor. What he said was that the signing is not mandatory. It is for you to do it on the floor for it to be captured but not that he said you don’t need to be in the chamber, we all know,” he stressed.

First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu who presided over the day’s proceedings assured that “the table office will verify and make appropriate corrections.”