Adwoa Safo fights back

Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has forcefully insisted that she played a role in the construction of a Community Day Senior High School in her constituency.

The project is the brainchild of former President John Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

Ms Adwoa Safo, who is the Procurement Minister and Deputy Majority Leader, has generated a heated political debate after claiming that she lobbied to get the school in her constituency.

The whole brouhaha was started when a short video went viral on social media in which the MP was captured bashing the then Mahama-led government for building all the schools in the NDC’s strongholds.

She had said she needed to set the records straight in order to remind her constituents of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s unparalleled commitment to the development of the nation.

“When we were in opposition things were tough but we managed to do one or two things that I need to mention. First is this very facility we’re seated in now which is the secondary school we have here in Dome-Kwabenya.

“There was no secondary school in this very large constituency. It was through my hard work that we have this school. It happened that the World Bank which I once worked with, was bringing some money into this country for the building of secondary schools for the government.

“I engaged them and they told me if I’m able to get a land with no litigation, though my party is not in power, they’ll give me one school. NDC built all the secondary schools in their strongholds.

“We’re the only constituency which is not NDC stronghold that has a secondary school. This should tell you the school is not from the government.” Ms Adwoa Safo said (referring to the erstwhile NDC administration).

Members of the current opposition NDC as a result, are breathing down on her neck to apologize for laying claim to the project because according to them, the MP and her party (NPP) criticized the initiative which was to build about 200 SHSs all over the country.

However, Ms Adwoa Safo has vowed never to offer any apology and has brought out documentary evidence to show the role she played.

She has put out the letter she said she wrote to the Director General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) asking for land for the school to be built and the response the Director General sent to her as well.

In the said letter sent on May 4, 2015, the MP requested for 20 acres of land from the commission.

The Director General on May 8, 2015, responded to the request saying, “The management has approved the use of the land at the GAEC Primary and JHS and in between the Community Library/ICT Centre and Israel, King of the Jews Church for the building of a senior high school facility as part of the government’s initiated project in the municipality.”