John Oti Bless
The appointments of deputy minister-designate for Foreign Affairs and National Integration, Emmanuel Bombande and deputy minister-designate for the Eastern Region, Joseph Agmor Tetteh, have been approved by parliament while that of John Oti Bless, deputy minister-designate for Local Government and Rural Development has been rejected.
The rejection of Oti Bless’ appointment might have been informed by a petition sent to the House by a concerned Ghanaian, Richard Asante-Yeboah, who had earlier petitioned the Supreme Court over the contempt comments made by the Montie 3.
Mr Asante-Yeboah asked the MPs to reject Oti Bless’ nomination because of his unprovoked attack on the Supreme Court justices, particularly Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.
The majority leader, Alban Bagbin, said further consultations would have to be done on the appointment of John Oti Bless, who has also come under the spotlight for giving several names as his surnames to the Appointments Committee of Parliament and also admitting that he never did national service.
The deputy minister-designate, who was nominated by President John Mahama, was caught in the web of the attack on the Chief Justice when he appeared on the notorious Montie Fm ‘Pampaso’ political programme hosted by the convict, Salifu Maase popularly called Mugabe.
During the consideration of the Appointments Committee’s report on Friday, July 29, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bekwai, Joseph Osei-Owusu, drew the House’s attention to the fact that the nominee, who is also the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Nkwanta North, had made some disparaging remarks against the Chief Justice on Montie FM and that did not speak well of an MP and so the House should block his approval.
“Hon members, I want the House to approve of the two nominees, Emmanuel Bombande and Joseph Agmor Tetteh, because there are still consultations on certain concerns raised about the appointment of John Oti Bless,” Speaker Edward Doe Adjaho said, adding that the two could be approved while further consultations would be done before the House would know the fate of the Nkwanta North MP.
“Hon members when consultations are concluded let us know,” he urged.
The minority members in the House had resolved to kick against the approval of John Oti Bless, who is said to be embroiled in contemptuous remarks against the Chief Justice by attacking her and other justices of the Supreme Court verbally on the radio station, after which he was rewarded with the ministerial appointment.
Oti Bless is on record as having accused the Chief Justice of ‘conniving’ with the opposition NPP in an attempt to reverse the election results in 2008 and in 2012, which saw the late John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama respectively elected into office.
The minority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, had said, “The language was disparaging to the justices,” adding that the words used were “unprintable” especially coming from “a Member of Parliament, taking the justices of the Supreme Court to the cleaners without any iota of evidence.”
The minority leader said that Oti Bless had confirmed he indeed made those comments about the Chief Justice and said the under-pressure MP had expressed regret.
Kidnapping Allegation
The nominee asserted on the ‘Pampaso’ show of June 24 – which landed the Montie 3 in prison – that the Chief Justice was part of a plot to kidnap a child of Tony Lithur, who was President Mahama’s lawyer during the Presidential Election Petition hearing decided by the Supreme Court.
“Let me give you a last filla. Do you know that during the Election Petition case, these people made a plot to kidnap a child of Tony Lithur who was lawyer for our Excellency John Mahama so he would not concentrate on the case?”
“We have to watch this Chief Justice. My brother Mugabe, I am telling you, when you go to the Supreme Court today, the Chief Justice is fighting one worker all because of politics,” Oti Bless is reported as saying.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr