Akufo-Addo signs RTI Bill into Law
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appended his signature to the Right to Information Bill (RTI) to make it a law.
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The bill, will, however, start operating in January 2020.
To President Akufo-Addo, he was optimistic that the law will enhance good governance.
He said if the law was properly applied, it will enhance the quality of governance in Ghana and provide a critical tool in the fight against corruption.
Parliament passed the bill in March 2019 after about two decades of advocacy for the law.
The RTI Bill was first drafted in 1999, reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007 but was only presented to Parliament in 2010 and was not passed by that Parliament that ended on January 6,
The bill was however relaid in Parliament in 2018 and was subsequently passed in March 2019
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Meanwhile the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Roland Affail Monney has welcomed the RTI law.
He said RTI has come to give a deeper meaning and inestimable value to the constitutional right and sovereign entitlement of Ghanaians to receive information held on their behalf by public officials.
“This will certainly purify the culture of transparency, accountability and openness in governance as well as reduce the incidence of corruption. To journalists
Mr Monney also commended President Nana Akufo-Addo and the current Parliament for actualizing a dream which has been nursed for decades.