Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Kweku Baako jnr has noted that derogatory comments made by Deputy Local Government Ministerial nominee John Oti Bless against the Chief Justice is serious and should therefore be withdrwan.

According to Kweku Baako, “He [President John Mahama] should withdraw his nomination. … Of course, vetting has taken place but the president should have withdrawn the appointment. The gentleman is damn lucky, how he escaped this whole Supreme Court scrutiny is weird, I can’t believe it; he ought not be a deputy minister. The president should just forget it.”

Read more: Parliament fails to approve Deputy Ministerial nominee

Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday August 6, 2016, he said “It’s so serious. His (comment) is worse than even the three gentlemen’s. He ought not to be considered at all. Indeed, parliament should do what the Executive failed to do in the Montie 3 case, which the Supreme Court hinted at. Parliament should not approve … this gentleman’s nomination.”

Oti Bless was hoping to be approved by the House to enable him to begin his role as deputy minister within five months to go into the December polls.

The Minority in Parliament had earlier initiated a process to stop the appointment of John Bless Oti as a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development after a revelation that he was part of the Montie FM panel on the day contemptuous statements were made about the Supreme Court.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Nkwanta North was cleared by Parliament’s Appointment Committee to be approved by the house as a deputy minister.

See also: 'Forgive me in the name of God' - Oti Bless apologises to Chief Justice

But his approval was deferred after Joe Osei-Owusu raised the issue in the house accusing Oti Bless of being part of the panellists that made contemptuous comments against Justices of the Supreme Court on Accra-based Montie FM.