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Right To Information coalition urges Prez to honour promise

Prez John MahamaPresident John Dramani Mahama has been called upon  by the Coalition on the Right To Information (RTI)  to ensure that the Right to Information Bill is finally laid before Parliament.

The coalition, in a letter dated May 28, 2013,  called on the President to ensure that “the RTI Bill is presented to the honourable house for consideration.”

A statement signed by  Ms Esther Ahulu, the RTI Project Officer and  copied to the Ghana News Agency on Monday urged President Mahama to honour his campaign promise of signing the RTI Bill immediately it was presented to the executive for onward presentation to Parliament for consideration.

It said the Ghana RTI Bill had been going back and forth between respective governments for the past 10 years till it was placed before Parliament on February 5, 2010, but was later referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committees on Communication and Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for examination.

The statement said the Bill was currently with Cabinet in accordance with the standing orders of Parliament, which specifies that all bills pending before the last Parliament be reverted to  the cabinet.

It said the coalition was also proposing that before the executive returned the Bill to Parliament, it should have been reviewed taking into consideration the amendments made and accepted by the Parliamentary Joint Committees of the last Parliament.

The Coalition on the RTI is a network of civil society organisations working for the passage of a democratic RTI law that would empower the people’s right to information and enhance  government’s accountability to citizens.

Source:  GNA

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