Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo has been named in an investigative piece by anti-corruption campaign group- Corruption Watch as one of the candidates who allegedly engaged in acts of vote-buying in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary primary held in the constituency.
Adwoa Safo, who doubles as the Minister of State responsible for Procurement, is alleged to have given GHS3,000 and a GLICO Life Insurance package worth GHS10,000 to delegates in the primary.
Also mentioned in the second part of the Corruption Watch exposé is Madam Safo’s contender and Ghana’s High Commissioner to India, Michael Aaron Oquaye Jnr.
He is alleged to have given GHc3,000, a 32-inch Nasco flat screen television set and an Indian-made cloth to 500 delegates.
Both candidates are said to have targeted 500 delegates, the number they needed to win the polls.
Checks by Corruption Watch at GLICO insurance revealed that the packages took effect from June 17, 2020 – three days prior to the election and expires on June 16, 2021.
The “Insurance Interest” was for the benefit of “Delegates of the Dome Kwabenya Constituency,” the report said.
Responses
When Mr. Oquaye was contacted for his response to the allegations, he said, “the election was over and he has put everything about the election behind him.
Adwoa Safo failed to respond to the request for comments when the team tried to reach her.
A follow-up letter from the anti-corruption group was submitted to her through the Director of Public Affairs at the Procurement Ministry, Solomon Sasu Mensah.
After following up with phone calls to Sasu Mensah, he said Madam Safo “wasn’t entertaining visitors over COVID-19 fears.”
Corruption Watch stated that they requested a telephone interview, but she has still not responded to the calls, a week after the request was made.
An earlier report by Corruption Watch highlighted prominent persons like the Deputy MASLOC CEO, Hajia Abibata Shani Mahama Zakaria, Deputy Procurement Officer at COCOBOD, Alhaji Umar Farouk Aliu Mahama, incumbent Member of Parliament for Kwesimintim Constituency, Joseph Mensah and the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Dr. Prince Hamid Armah detailed how they allegedly influenced delegates.
