Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong has said between Dome Kwabenya MP Sarah Adwoa Safo, with whom he has two children; and the widow of the later Courage Quashigah, who is currently the National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Program, he would go for the latter politically.
Ms. Safo, who is the Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, fired Mrs. Gertrude Quashigah from her post on 18 May 2021 with immediate effect.
A letter to that effect signed by Adwoa Safo at the time directed Mr. Quashigah’s widow to hand over any official documents or property in her custody to the Chief Director of the Ministry.
Three days later, however, the same Adwoa Safo, on the orders of President Nana Akufo-Addo, was forced to issue a statement withdrawing Mrs. Quashigah’s dismissal letter and reinstating her.
The minister indicated that the earlier dismissal of Mrs. Quashigah was due to an “administrative error”.
Speaking on that incident, publicly, for the first time, Ms. Adwoa Safo’s ex-lover, Mr. Kennedy Agyapong, told Asaase Radio in an interview on Tuesday, 22 February 2022: “The school feeding coordinators – listen carefully – when Adwoa was made the minister, they came to me [and said], ‘Oh, Adwoa is your wife; tell her to remove Mrs. Quashigah because she [Mrs. Quashigah] doesn’t pay us, she doesn’t do this.
“I did not listen to them but I did investigations and I realized that these women that are complaining about Mrs. Quashigah, are rather inflating the schools”, Mr. Agyapong said.
“Ken Ofori-Atta had agreed with the Swedru MP [Cynthia Morrison] that, ‘Look, these are the numbers you have to take; it should be within the budget. The NPP women organizers on their authority gave some schools to some women and up to date, they’ve not been paid because it was not captured”.
“So, they had gone to Mrs. Quashigah to change the names of the schools or put in more schools for them then she said no. So, these coordinators were pushing the woman and the woman said, ‘no’”, he recounted.
“But they made a U-turn to come and complain that I should convince Adwoa to remove Mrs. Quashigah, which I didn’t do.
“Unfortunately for her [Adwoa Safo], she didn’t listen or investigate, and within six months in office, you said that the coordinator should leave”.
“And let me tell you straight: me, in NPP, and you media people, the way you twist [words], I want to state emphatically and it should be reported as it is, not twisting: family matters I will not discuss here because Adwoa is good at taking care of my kids but politically, I’ll choose Mrs. Quashigah over Adwoa any time any day because we have to reward hard work, commitment to party”, Mr. Agyapong said.
“Those days when Quashigah put his life on the line for NPP, where was Adwoa Safo? And, you come to the office in six months, you write a letter without even consulting the president; you write a letter to sack the woman”, he fumed.
According to him, “The only time the president got to know was that it was in the papers that Mrs. Quashigah had been sacked. What is this?”
“So, if the president instructs you to reinstate the women, [then you get angry]”.
Mr. Agyapong condemned Adwoa Safo for holding the governing New Patriotic Party to ransom over the e-levy.
“I want to tell Dr. Amoako Baah that Adwoa Safo is in parliament in the name of NPP but we are in opposition. So, if we lose; we go to by-elections and lose, it doesn’t make a different for the way the girl or the woman is treating NPP as a party”.
“It’s not rosy as you see it out there; we all have problems but party first. So, if you think you have a problem and the way you are going to operate is to sabotage the party, now you are asking for the president to remove the deputy majority leader for you to be a deputy majority leader; I’ll also go back to America and tell President Akufo-Addo, ‘resign before I come’.
If President Akufo-Addo should yield to Adwoa’s demand, I’ll also go to America then I’ll make a phone call to the Chief of Staff, ‘Well, tell President Akufo-Addo to resign before I come back. Somebody will look at me and say, ‘OK, Kennedy Agyapong, you talk too much; I’m also not coming. What precedent are we setting in this party?”
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