After more than a year of nonstop absences, Sarah Adwoa Safo, Ghana’s minister for gender, has been removed from her duties. Her dismissal was not given a specific explanation by the presidency in a news release, but it might have something to do with the nation’s growing anxiety over her constant absence. There is now a new caretaker minister working at the ministry. President Nana Akufo-Addo granted her an extension of a leave of absence that she had requested for personal reasons and that was set to expire in August of last year. Ms. Sarfo, a member of parliament for the ruling party and the capital’s Dome Kwabenya seat, has also skipped sessions.
On the committee’s proposal to declare her seat vacant, the Speaker of the House, Alban Bagbin, is anticipated to issue a formal decision. Without the Speaker’s consent, she had been away from the chamber for more than fifty-one sitting days and had declined to accept a committee’s invitation due to her frequent absences. Minority MPs have pushed for her to have a fair hearing before the Speaker makes a decision. She has not yet commented on being fired, however she previously gave the excuse that she was in the US caring for her ill son. Additionally, she stated that the Speaker and President Akufo-Addo had been apprised of her family’s issues.
