Citifmonline: Ghana: Friday,
February 03, 2017.
The Vice
President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has promised that government will facilitate
the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill this year.
He said the
New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is committed to enhancing accountability
and dealing with corruption in the country.
According to
him, among the issues the government will pursue are amendment of the criminal
code to make corruption a felony, rather than a misdemeanor as the law states
currently, to ensure stiffer punishment for persons found to be corrupt.
Speaking at a
Transparency International Regional meeting in Accra earlier today [Thursday],
Dr. Bawumia said government will ensure a special prosecutor’s office to
prosecute persons found to be corrupt.
“Our
government has already made it clear that we will be passing the Right to
Information Act. We will make sure a special prosecutor’s office is set up to
prosecute corruption and we will amend the criminal code to move the corruption
from a misdemeanor to a felony. These are just some of the actions we intend to
implement this year,” Dr Bawumia said.
The 6th
Parliament of the 4th Republic, failed to pass the Right to Information Bill,
even after former president, John Mahama, appealed to them to do so in his last
state of the nation address.
The bill
has been in parliament since 2013.
The Coalition
on the Right to Information (RTI) Ghana, which has championed the crusade to
get the Bill passed, has already tasked the new NPP government to as a matter
of urgency facilitate its passage.
In a recent
statement, the group congratulated the Attorney-General (AG) and Minister for Justice,
Gloria Akuffo, and urged her to work with the President, Nana Akufo-Addo to
ensure the Bill is passed
“It is our
hope that the AG will give priority to the RTI Bill and that His Excellency,
President Nana Akufo Addo will ensure that the Bill is referred to Parliament
as soon as possible, hopefully in his first hundred days.
The Coalition
said it remained committed to working with the AG and all stakeholders to
ensure the speedy passage of the Right to Information legislation in Ghana,”
the statement read.
About the
RTI Bill
The right to
information is a fundamental human right guaranteed by Ghana’s 1992
Constitution and recognized as a right under International Conventions on Human
rights.
The bill will
give substance to Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution which states that “All
persons shall have the right to information subject to such qualifications and
laws as are necessary in a democratic society”.
The bill was
drafted in 1999 and reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007 but was not presented to
Parliament.
The first
attempt at enacting the law on the right to information was made when the bill
was presented to Parliament on February 5, 2010. The Attorney-General on June
25, 2015 moved the bill for the second reading awaiting passage in Parliament.
It will have
to be reintroduced to the House for consideration.
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