President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has told the newly-sworn justices of the Supreme Court, Barbara Frances Ackah-Yensu; and Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu to bear in mind that the growth of the nation demands a Judiciary that commands the respect of the people by the quality of its delivery of justice, as well as by the comportment of its judges.
Mr Akufo-Addo told them that application of the laws of the land must occur without fear or favour, affection or ill-will, and, therefore, without recourse to the political, religious or ethnic affiliations of any citizen of the land.
The President said these on Wednesday, December 28 when he swore in the two new justices of the apex court at a ceremony at the Jubilee House.
Mr Akufo-Addo also used the occasion to swear into office the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Lariba Abudu and her Deputy, Francisca Oteng-Mensah.
Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection nominee, Francisca Oteng Mensah, has disclosed that her father, Dr. Kwaku Oteng, grew up without his father actively playing a role in his life.
She said the Angel Group of Companies founder did not know his father while growing up.
Francisca Oteng made this statement in the presence of her father and members of the parliament’s Appointment Committee while being vetted for the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection position.
In a bid to throw more light on the ‘Mensah’ attached to her surname, after one of the Appointment Committee members inquired if it was her husband’s name, she explained that:
“Mensah isn’t my husband’s name, it’s my father’s name. Growing up, my father didn’t have a good relationship with his father, or let me say, he didn’t know his father. After he grew up to a certain age, he discovered that his father was called, De-Graft Oteng. I was named after three people, Francisca is my father’s best friend who is a pastor, Oteng is my father’s biological father’s name and the Mensah is my father’s name.”
Meanwhile, Francisca Oteng, who doubles as the Kwabre East MP, is part of the two nominees appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo after he revoked the appointment of Sarah Adwoa Safo, who was absent from work for an extended period.
President Akufo-Addo also nominated the Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, and MP for Walewale, Lariba Zuweira Abudu, as minister-designate for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, following Adwoa Safo’s exit.
Son of Dr. Kwaku Oteng, Samuel Acheampong, who reportedly got demoted from his position as the CEO of the AngelBroadcasting Network, was spotted in parliament with his father, as they supported his sister during vetting.
The Kwabre East Member of Parliament (MP), Francisca OtengMensah, faced the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Thursday, December 15, 2022, over her appointment as the Deputy Minister-designate for Gender, Children, and Social Protection.
Prior to this development, netizens were thrown into a state of confusion after a viral document signed by Dr. Kwaku Oteng, in which he announced the suspension and demotion of his son, Samuel Kofi Acheampong, who doubles as the company’s Chief Executive Officer went viral.
Samuel was said to have been relieved and demoted from his post as the CEO of Angel Broadcasting Network, to the General Manager of Angel FM in Kumasi, and many wondered what must have instigated his father to act in such a manner.
But among the individuals that sat behind Francisca Oteng to offer moral support to her during the vetting were her father, Dr. Kwaku Oteng, and her brother, Samuel Acheampong.
Clad in a grey kaftan, Samuel sat close to his father and other family members.
Perhaps, this is somewhat a confirmation of socialite, Adu Safowaa’s earlier claims that Dr. Oteng never took such an action against his son.
The Deputy Minister for Gender and Social Protection nominee, FranciscaOteng-Mensah has refuted claims that she engaged in conflict of interest in the procurement of sanitisers during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Kwabre East MP was accused of using her influence as the Board Chairperson of the National Youth Authority (NYA) in 2020 to lead the board in approving the procurement of sanitisers from a company in which she is a director and shareholder.
Ms Oteng-Mensah was alleged to have supervised the board to pay GH¢700,000 to Adonko Company – a subsidiary of the Angel Group of Companies which manufactured hand sanitisers at the onset of Covid-19.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is currently investigating allegations of conflict of interest against the Deputy Gender Minister-designate.
However, appearing before the Appointment Committee of Parliament on Thursday, Ms. Oteng-Mensah said she is not guilty of the allegations of conflict of interest made against her.
According to her, she did not have any idea that the NYA Board was working towards purchasing sanitisers from Adonko Company.
Therefore, she hoped CHRAJ which is a competent body will clear her of any wrongdoing.
“As the Chairperson, I was not a member of the Entity Tender Committee and so I wasn’t on the committee at that time. Also, I had no idea they were purchasing from Adonko Company Limited at that time.
“It got to a time when we were at the peak of Covid-19 season. In fact, if we all recall, getting access to sanitisers was a huge challenge and so everybody including members of Parliament were struggling to go anywhere that they could get sanitisers to give to their people,” she told the Committee.
The Kwabre MP further explained that the Committee did not only procure sanitisers from Adonko Company Limited but from other companies as well.
“At that point, in that state of emergency, nothing of that sort came to me and so I find it difficult to accept that there is any conflict of interest. It was afterwards that I got to know that they even purchased some number of sanitisers from Adonko Company Limited. And they didn’t just purchase from Adonko Company Limited, per my checks, they also purchased from other companies,” she said.
Meanwhile, she admitted that her father is the owner of Adonko Company Limited and she is a shareholder.
“…it has to do with the fact that my father owns Adonko Company Limited and I’m also a shareholder of the company,” she told the Committee.
What led to the allegation
A resident of Nima in Accra, Ismail Mohammed, on January 21, 2021, therefore, petitioned the anti-graft institution to look into the conduct of the MP, insisting the NYA’s ¢3 million expenses on a Covid-19 campaign in 2020 had elements of impropriety.
The NYA board’s approval of the expenditure on March 31, 2020, came at a time the country had recorded more than 150 cases of COVID-19 and was girding its loins to confront the pandemic.
Fourteen out of the 15 board members of the institution were in the Zoom meeting to approve the amount. That meeting had the board chairperson, Francisca Oteng Mensah; the CEO, Sylvester Tetteh; and a Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Secretariat, Henry Nana Boakye, in attendance.
Minutes of the board’s virtual meeting on that day show the CEO presented management’s proposal for GH₵3 million for a campaign to support the government’s fight against COVID-19.
Three board members, Joshua Makubu, now the Oti Regional Minister; Henry Nana Boakye, now the New Patriotic Party’s National Organiser; and Theodora Williams Anti, now the Acting Executive Director Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), supported the management’s proposal.
This paved the way for the Board Chairperson to call for a voice vote on the matter.
“Majority of the members voted for the approval of ¢3 million for management to undertake various activities towards the fight against Covid-19, with no indication of dissension,” the minutes said.
However, a member of the board, Emmanuel Yao Dormenya, suggested that “management should submit a budget to the finance committee for scrutiny.”
Ms Oteng-Mensah shot the idea down.
“The Chairman in view of the exigency of the request directed the CEO to present regular updates on the activities on the board’s page and a comprehensive report to the board on the outcomes of the lined-up activities under the programme during the subsequent meeting,” the board minutes indicated.
The petitioner alleged that by superintending the meeting to approve the Covid-19 campaign, Ms Oteng-Mensah had violated Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 7 of the NYA Act.
Francisca Oteng-Mensah is the incumbent member of parliament of the New Patriotic Party for the Kwabre East Constituency. Born on Valentine’s Day in 1993, Hon. Francisca Oteng-Mensah was known as the youngest parliamentarian of the fourth republic of Ghana at the time of being elected in 2016.
She happens to be the daughter of Mrs. Joyce Oteng and the CEO of Angel Group of Companies Dr. Kwaku Oteng, who is a doctor and a businessman.
She was a second year Law student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology when she contested and won the 2016 election as the MP for Kwabre East Constituency. Before KNUST, she attended the Mamponteng Roman Catholic School, then to Revival Preparatory School at Breman and finally to Supreme Saviour International. She completed her Junior High education at Angel Educational Complex then went to St. Roses SHS for her senior high school education.
In the 2016 general elections, she managed to win by a huge percentage but it is yet to see if she will be able to manage such huge numbers in these years elections. These were the results in the previous election which guaranteed her the seat 71,757 votes out of the 86,611 valid votes cast = 83.08%. Others: Adams Iddisah (NDC) 13,673 = 15.83%, Grace Affram (PPP) 403 = 0.47%, Jahdilhaq Mohammed Mustapha (PNC) 364 = 0.42% and Emmanuel Boadu Osei (CPP) 172 = 0.20%.
Hon. Francisca Oteng-Mensah is contesting the seat once again in this year’s election hoping to be re-elected for a second term and futune seems to be on her side considering the reviews she is receiving in her first term in office. Majority of the delegates in her constituency believes she is the right person to represent the party at the general elections although the party is yet to organise it’s primaries. Twenty-six (26) out of the thirty-one New Patriotic Party (NPP) Electoral Area Coordinators in the Kwabre East Constituency of the Ashanti Region have declared their support for a second term for the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Francisca Oteng Mensah.
It has been suggested she will be going unopposed in the party’s parliamentary primaries. A press statement issued by the party executives read in parts “The kind of leadership that Hon. Francisca Oteng Mensah is exhibiting in the constituency is one of humility, selflessness, representative and sensitive with the necessary competence to deliver the needful; her level of intelligence, coupled with her burning desire to empower the youth and women is a great testimony to the fact that, she again becomes the face of the Kwabre East Constituency in Parliamentâ€.
Based on comments such as this alone, one can be assured that the young MP has got the support of the party. She has even got the support of the President who once made a pronouncement at a durbar of chiefs and people of Kwabre East Municipality of the Ashanti region at the palace of Mampontenghene, Barima Saasi Ayeboafo II on Thursday, October 10 2019.
The only thing that stands in her way now is the aspirants from the other political parties although the Ashanti region happens to be the strong hold of the NPP. The closest challenge at the 2016 elections managed only 15.83% so if that is anything to go by, Hon. Francisca Oteng-Mensah should be very optimistic about retaining the seat.
