Oti Bless’ Apology Not Enough to Justify Appointment

Following the apology of MP for Nkwanta North, John Oti Bless, for slandering the Chief Justice, the citizen who petitioned Parliament to not approve his appointment as the Deputy Minister for Local Government over same has said the apology is not enough.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, the citizen, Richard Asante Yeboah, acknowledged that Oti Bless had begun “efforts in purging himself appropriately” but was adamant that he ought not to be approved.
Oti Bless was ordered by the Speaker of Parliament to offer an apology before any further consideration of his nomination for the Deputy Minister slot.
The order for the apology followed the emergence of audio evidence which had Oti Bless verbally attacking the Supreme Court on the same Montie FM ‘Pampaso’ programme that saw the host of the show and two panelists imprisoned for contempt.
The MP 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.
Mr. Yeboah held that “In terms of that particular conduct, the way and manner he dealt with the Chief Justice and the judiciary, he really undermined the authority and the sanctity of the judicial system.”
“I don’t share in the opinion that because he has simply apologised, parliament should possibly endorse him or approve him to become a Deputy Minister,” he added.
Mr. Yeboah asserted further that Oti Bless had to do more convince of his remorse.
“I think that there are a lot of things he has to do to show to the entire world that he has really showed signs of remorse… there should be a lot of activities both in public and in private to indicate that indeed he is not going to call and spit our judiciary, in our legal system in such in such a manner.”
Oti Bless’ apology
“I wish to sincerely state that I am really sorry for everything that has happened. Let me use this opportunity to render an unqualified apology to the Chief Justice who is my mother and the entire Judiciary, judges, Parliament, good people of Ghana and my constituents,” he said in an interview with Eyewitness News host Richard Dela Sky.
Oti Bless stated that although he hadn’t yet approached the affected justices and the Chief Justice to apologise for his comments about them personally, he hoped his public apology would suffice.
“At the leadership level, they’ve done a lot and I want to use the medium [Citi FM] to reach out to her. I know the Chief Justice and other justices listen a lot to the station and that is why I stated that I regret any inconvenience and it won’t happen again.”