I voted Mike Oquaye as Speaker, ignore social media fake news – Adwoa Safo

Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo has disclosed who she voted for as the Speaker of Parliament when the elections were held last week.

To her, contrary to social media claims suggesting she voted against Professor Mike Oquaye because Oquaye worked to get his son to challenge her for the NPP Dome Kwabenya parliamentary candidate slot is false and should be disregarded.

“It is being alleged that I voted against Prof Oquaye because he [Prof Oquaye] allowed his son to contest me in the recent past Dome Kwabenya parliamentary primaries of the NPP in the run-up to the 2020 general elections. How absurd!

“I wish to state emphatically that, there is no iota of truth in these vile rumours and speculations, and I call on all and sundry to completely disregard the same. For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to state without any shred of doubt that, I, Sarah Adwoa Safo, voted for Prof Mike Oquaye,” she said in a statement.

Read the full statement below;

My attention has been drawn to rumours and wild speculations on mainline and social media suggesting that I, Sarah Adwoa Safo, voted against Prof Mike Oquaye, the NPP’s nominee for the position of Speaker during the last sitting of the 7th Parliament on the dawn of 7th January 2021.

It is being alleged that I voted against Prof Oquaye because he [Prof Oquaye] allowed his son to contest me in the recent past Dome Kwabenya parliamentary primaries of the NPP in the run-up to the 2020 general elections. How absurd!

I wish to state emphatically that, there is no iota of truth in these vile rumours and speculations, and I call on all and sundry to completely disregard the same. For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to state without any shred of doubt that, I, Sarah Adwoa Safo, voted for Prof Mike Oquaye.

I had absolutely no motivation to vote otherwise. In the over 20 years of my active political life, I have always stood for and publicly supported the decisions of my party, the NPP. My unquenchable loyalty and commitment to the NPP over the decades can certainly not be shaken by an ordinary internal contest within the party. At every stage of my parliamentary political life, I have been contested, and at no point have I begrudged my fellow contestants.

Whilst it is indeed true that since 2007, I have been contesting in the Dome Kwabenya parliamentary primaries of the party, it is undeniable, that, regardless of the outcome of each contest, I never hesitated in deploying my time and resources at the disposal of the party to ensure that Dome Kwabenya remains our traditional stronghold election after election.

Also, as a firm believer of our democratic tenets, which is one of the founding principles of the NPP, I have never, and can never hold any grudge against any person(s) that contest me in our party’s primaries. It, therefore, comes to me, as not only egregious but also highly unconscionable for anyone to suggest that I would betray my party merely because I was contested in the recent parliamentary primaries of the party.

Beyond that, it must also be recalled that I contributed to the debate on the floor of parliament at that special sitting, making a solid case for the party’s nominee, Prof Mike Oquaye to be re-elected as the Speaker of the august house.

Instructively, I was the only female Member of Parliament who spoke for the party’s nominee on that faithful day. Having made a case for the re-election of Prof Mike Oquaye as Speaker, what at all would be my motivation to vote against him? This, certainly, beggars belief.

Also, as the immediate past Deputy Majority Leader and a 3-term Member of Parliament, I am not oblivious of the devastating consequences of not having the Speaker on the side of the governing party. I therefore could not have contemplated putting my party and government in such an uncomfortable and dire situation by voting against the party’s nominee for the position of Speaker.

Notwithstanding the viciousness of these malicious allegations against my person, I remain resolute and focused on my work as a Member of the august house to the service of my constituents, my party, and of course, the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in delivering prosperity to the Ghanaian people.

…Signed…

Sarah Adow Safo

MP, Dome Kwabenya