Parliament approves Oti Bless’ nomination as Deputy Minister

The about three months wait was over for the deputy minister-designate for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr John Oti Bless, as his nomination was finally approved by Parliament on Wednesday.

The Members of Parliament (MPs) approved Mr Bless's nomination after the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, had put the question for the approval.

Last Friday, Parliament stepped down a motion for the approval of the nomination of Mr Bless because of the insufficient number of MPs. 

Background

Mr Bless, an MP for Nkwanta North, was nominated together with a former Executive Director of the West Africa Peace Building Network (WANEP), Mr Emmanuel Bombande, as a Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, and a former District Chief Executive of Upper Manya, Mr Joseph Agmor Tetteh, as a Deputy Ministers for the Eastern Region.

They were vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament, which recommended the approval of all of them.

But a petitioner had asked the MPs to reject Mr Bless's nomination because of his alleged contempt comments he purportedly made against the Justices of the Supreme Court on Montie FM 'Pampaso' political programme.

Parliament subsequently approved the nomination of Mr Bombande and Mr Agmor Tetteh, but suspended the approval of Mr Bless.

Hope dashed

At the last sitting of the last meeting of Parliament, Mr Bless had the hope that Parliament would approve his nomination. 

But that hope was dashed because he was unable to forward his written apology for the purported attack he made on the a Supreme Court Justices before the start of business.

When the Speaker asked the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Alfred Agbesi, to mention the business of the House, he mentioned closing remarks by the leadership of the House and the Speaker.

Afterwards, Mr Agbesi requested that Mr Bless be made to apologise, but the Speaker declined the request because he did not see the written apology.