Ghana Web: Ghana: Sunday, March 18, 2018.
It’s been 22
years since the IEA pioneered the first draft of the Right to Information (RTI)
Bill. Government did its draft RTI Bill reviewed it in 2003, 2005 and 2007 but
never took it to Parliament until February 5, 2010.
The Right to
Information Bill has since suffered a series of failed promises to pass it. The
NPP and NDC have simply paid lip service and deliberately refused to pass it to
empower citizens to demand accountability on compulsion of law. The 5th and 6th
parliaments failed to pass it giving absolutely ridiculous excuses.
The RTI
Coalition with key spokespersons like Lawyer Akoto Ampaw and Mina Mensah
advocated for poor citizens relentlessly despite the deliberate acts to
frustrate them to give up the fight. Later in 2016, the Multimedia Group and I
petitioned Speaker Doe Adjaho to prioritize its passage over the SpyBill.
The house
swung into action but it was election time and the NDC majority most shockingly
and unprecedentedly allowed the NPP minority to botch the process.
Campaigning
was more important than making themselves available to pass a law President
John Mahama and officers of State had promised citizens and the international
community they will pass.
The NPP was
interested in a possible election victory and a political advantage in taking
the glory for the passage of the RTI law. They didn’t bother that that would be
the third time the bill will have to be reintroduced and the process started
all over again at the expense of the poor taxpayer.
No bill has
been thoroughly done as this, yet it has never been deemed urgent to enjoy the
swift passage that many bills prepared overnight have enjoyed. In fact, when
the NPP promised to pass it, I thought it would be the first they would pass on
winning the elections. Despite assurances including a firm declaration by
Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid, that the RTI Bill would be laid in
Parliament in July 2017, the Bill was not part of the many placed in the house
and passed since the NPP assumed office.
This,
including the fact that the President made no mention of it in his last State
of the Nation Address got the RTI ACTION CAMPAIGN GROUP gathering at Alisa
Hotel in February to strategize and issuing a statement demanding timelines for
its passage.
The group had
the CDD, GII, TUC, GIBA, MFWA, IMANI, and over thirty other CSO’s uniting in
the call for action (others include Occupy Ghana, Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative, RTI Coalition, Citi FM, Adom FM, Alliance for Women in Media, Joy
FM, Daily Graphic, Business Day, Legal Resources Centre, Ghana Coalition for
NGO’s in Health, CSO Platform on SDG’s, GIBA, Centre of Employment for Persons
with Disability, POS Foundation, TUC, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition).
The RTI
ACTION CAMPAIGN GROUP invites all to remind H.E President Nana Akufo Addo of
his March 6, pledge to have the RTI Bill laid and passed before Parliament
rises. Mr President, Parliament rises on March 23, 2018. The RTI Bill is not on
the order paper detailing business for next week. Well, it is not too late to
lay it on an order paper addendum. It is obviously not possible for this
session to pass it.
Please, at
the minimum, just lay this democracy-entrenching and citizen-empowering law for
passage at the next session starting May, to give meaning to the article 21
“right to information”; to give meaning to the article 41 citizens duty “to
protect and preserve public property and expose and combat misuse and waste of
public funds and property”.
Truth is,
this law should have been passed before the Office of Special Prosecutor Act.
The corruption fight will not be won without an RTI law. Let’s together help
the President do right by us and NOW! The RTI is a democratic imperative. The
10-day countdown started Wednesday is on. 7 days more to go.
Supplying
public information to citizens and the media must not remain at the whim of
officers who are paid with our taxes, housed, transported and fed by us but who
feel information about how they spend our money or govern is their private or
family property. A promise made on Independence Day must be kept. Your
integrity, sir!
.JPG)
.JPG)
