[ 2016-10-22 ]

Oti Bless' approval as deputy minister still on hold
Parliament on Friday stepped down a motion for the
approval of the nomination of the deputy
minister-designate for Local Government and Rural
Development, Mr John Oti Bless.
That was because of the insufficient number of
Members of Parliament (MPs) to debate and approve
the motion.

The Majority Leader and Chairman of the Business
Committee of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin,
indicated that the motion for the approval of the
nomination of Mr Bless had been appearing in the
order paper for some time, and it was appropriate
it was taken today (Friday).

Per the order paper, the Chairman of the
Appointments Committee, Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, was
supposed to move the motion for the House to adopt
the committee's report.

But the Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Mr Ignatius
Baffour Awuah, said Parliament did not have the
sufficient number to consider the motion.

Mr Bagbin explained that he raised the issue of
the motion for the approval of Mr Bless at the
last joint caucus meeting.

He said he got the sense from the members that
they did not have any difficulty with the motion.

But Mr Bagbin agreed to the call by Mr Baffour
Awuah for the motion to be stepped down.

Background

Mr Bless, a Member of Parliament (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.

Source - Graphiconline

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