Pass Right to Information Bill now — Prof. Karikari
Ghana has marked the 2015 World Press Freedom Day, with stakeholders calling on Parliament to pass the Right To Information (RTI) Bill before the close of 2015.
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The law is expected to make authentic and substantial provisions in Article 21(1) f of the 1992 Constitution that grants citizens the freedom of access to information held by government and public agencies.
Stakeholders, including the RTI Coalition, the media and a section of the public, made the call at a public lecture delivered by a convener of the RTI Coalition, Professor Kwame Karikari, in Accra last Monday.
The lecture formed part of national activities to commemorate the 2015 World Press Freedom Day.
The international theme for the 2015 celebration is: “Delay of the Right to Information Law: Undermining the people’s right to know and devaluing press freedom”.
Amended version of bill
Prof. Karikari said stakeholders were calling for the passage of the amended version because some provisions in the different editions of the bill were inadequate and indirectly denied access to some public information in government custody.
According to him, the revised and current version had been made good enough to enhance openness in governance and advance transparency and accountability in a public that was drowning in corruption, widespread maladministration, bad governance and political bankruptcy.
He asked why the governments of the Fourth Republic had refused to adopt the RTI Bill for the past 15 years, in spite of public outcry.
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According to him, the refusal had, over the years, left stakeholders without any option but to interpret it to mean that political parties were afraid of transparency and accountability in the affairs of government.
“What is democracy if citizens are kept in the dark about what goes on in government? Ghana is drenched and being drowned in all manner of anti-democratic and unpatriotic acts by people in high public and government offices. There seems to be growing in this so-called democracy a culture of impunity by people in public offices and government,” he said.
Prof. Karikari said no matter how loudly the public cried about acts of bad governance and malfeasance, the anthem “Yentie obiara” got even louder.
“President John Mahama has promised so many times more than any other President to pass the RTI Bill. He has only reiterated his promise so far, but the delay continues,” he added.