John Oti Bless
Parliament rose yesterday for its long recess without approving the nomination of John Oti Bless, deputy minister-designate for Local Government and Rural Development, who has been caught attacking the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood on Montie Fm.
The speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho, admonished Members of Parliament (MPs) to always uphold the dignity of the house and do nothing that would bring their names and the name of parliament into disrepute.
Some MPs tried to consider the approval of John Oti Bless, but it was not successful as both the majority and the minority showed little interest in that.
The troubled minister-designate had written an apology letter to the speaker and leadership of parliament asking the house to forgive him for his unwarranted remarks about the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Montie 3.
A concerned Ghanaian, Richard Asante-Yeboah, who had earlier petitioned the Supreme Court over the contempt comments made by the Montie trio, also petitioned parliament against the approval of Oti Bless’ nomination for attacking the CJ.
The nominee accused the CJ of a plot to kidnap a child of Tony Lithur, who was President Mahama’s lawyer during the Presidential Election Petition case, heard by the Supreme Court.
Speaker Doe Adjaho said it was important that MPs watch what they say in public, especially when they go to their various constituencies to campaign towards the general elections.
He said they should avoid acrimony and do clean campaigns.
He commended the MPs for working hard to pass very important bills in the house, including the Revenue Administration Bill, National Disaster Management Organisation Bill, Maritime Pollution Bill, Technical Universities Bill, Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Bill, the Security Industry Bill, Public Financial Management Bill, Ghana Deposit Protection Bill, Banks and Specialised Deposit Taking Institutions Bill and Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill.
He also commended the Executive for having the foresight and boldness to introduce such important bills in the house to be worked on.
The majority leader, Alban Bagbin, said the passage of the Ghana Deposit Protection Bill and the Banks and Specialised Deposit Taking Institutions Bill will help the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to take urgent measures to protect the interest of depositors, particularly funds of investors with microfinance companies.
“I wish to urge the banks to implement to the letter, the provisions of those Bills when they come into force,” he underscored.
The minority leader also advised MPs to take part in the exhibition of the voters’ register since it is a national programme.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr