The Coalition on the Right to Information (RTI) Ghana, has repeated calls on Parliament to speed up with the processes towards the passage of the RTI Bill into law.
The Right to Information (RTI) also known as ‘freedom of information’ demands unhindered citizens access to information held by public offices and private entities exercising public functions to keep the citizens informed on what government is doing on behalf of the people. This include; information on government policies and programmes, projects and investments, contracts, budgets and decision making processes and procedures and various aspects of public service delivery.
In 2002, President J.A. Kufuor took steps to draft a Bill on the Right to Information, which received further review in subsequent years. However, passage of the Bill into law has not been witnessed to date.
In view of this, the Coalition on the Right to Information, a network of civil society bodies and individuals advocating for the RTI law in Ghana, is asking for a further review of portions of the Bill so as to ensure that the Bill reflects international best practice.
At a day’s advocacy strategic workshop organized in Tamale, Nana Oye Lithur, a Human Rights Advocate and Convener of the RTI Coalition, expressed worry about the too many exemptions including the office of the President, the Vice President, Cabinet and National Security captured in the Bill, which in her estimation could deny citizens the right to having access to adequate information.
Nana Oye Lithur suggested the need for a review of the maximum period of 160 days that citizens need to wait before getting information from public office holders, as a means of helping them to make informed decisions.
“It is too long such a period and it will forfeit the purpose of establishing the right to information law when it becomes operative,” she maintained.
She also asked among other things the setting up of an independent body to handle the request for information from public officers by the citizenry instead of giving such a mandate to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice who will obviously be biased when it comes to the release of certain information.
Caroline Nalule, Regional Coordinator of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and organizers of the workshop, implored government to provide adequate and reliable information to the public on issues concerning national budget and the distribution of national resources.
According to her, the RTI is fundamental to the realization of economic and social rights as well as civil and political rights. Adding that, it seeks to promote transparent governance, public accountability and empowerment of the citizenry in a democratic society.
Nalule also stressed that the protection of the law is at the heart of democratic governance and practice as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, which underscores the sovereignty of the people as the premise of governance in Ghana.
The workshop was aimed at equipping participants with vital knowledge and advocacy skills that they can utilise to articulate on the issue and promote public awareness at the regional and grassroots level in order to build local demand and support for the right to information and in the process enhance in-country capacity of civil society to assist in expanding the RTI campaign by generating interest from the general public.
The workshop was also intended to provide a platform for participants to share views from their perspective on the value of RTI law in Ghana and promote a better understanding on the Bill.
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