Parliament has approved the nomination of John Kwabena Bless Oti as the Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development.
The approval comes after the Minority had led the charge for the suspension of his approval over comments he made against Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood on Accra-based Montie FM in July 2016.
Citi News’ Duke Mensah Opoku reported from the House that the process for his approval today [Wednesday] was not met with by any opposition.
The Minority’s opposition to Mr. Bless Oti’s approval stemmed from the emergence of audio of him verbally attacking the Supreme Court on the same Montie FM ‘Pampaso’ programme, that infamously saw the host of the show and two panelists imprisoned for contempt.
Mr. Bless Oti, also the Nkwanta North Member of Parliament, accused the Chief Justice of “conniving” with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in an attempt to reverse the election results in 2008 and in 2012 among other allegations.
‘I was misled’
Mr. Bless Oti later issued an apology to the Chief Justice and members of the judiciary for the derogatory comments he made against them.
This followed a directive from the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, for deliberations over his nomination to be put on hold until the Nkwanta North MP apologised for the comments he made.
Mr. Bless Oti also explained that he had been ‘misled’ to make the comments he did adding that he was carried away by the moment.
“I was misled in a way as a young guy with youthful exuberance, you can understand. That is not my nature, that’s not how I was brought up, I’ll plead that it won’t happen again. This will be the last time. They should kindly forgive me in the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” he said in his apology.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana