Dr Kojo Asante
The joint committee on the Right to Information (RTI) Action campaign has proposed an amendment to the bill to reduce the application and receipt of information time from 28 to 14 days.
Addressing the press in Accra, Dr Kojo Asante, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana, said the bill currently contains provisions that if not addressed by the house, would render the entire exercise meaningless.
“It also has missing provisions that will make the bill credible,” he added.
He revealed that the RTI is under the 1992 Constitution adding that in a democracy, it means information collected by public institutions were collected on behalf of citizens and should be made accessible to them.
According to Dr Asante, passing the bill into law with some clauses like clause 12 and clause 13 will amount to denial of information law, hence they should be deleted or amended.
He added, “Both clauses provide a blanket exemption and do not emphasise maximum and pro-active disclosure of information, except for the case of clause 16 which talks about protecting the disclosure of personal matters”.
He suggested that the Office of the President be clearly defined under clause 5 because of the several agencies under the Office of the President like Ghana Aids Commission, Ministry of Special Development Initiative, among others.
Dr Asante reminded the Members of Parliament that it should always be about the citizens first and politicians second.
“Passing a credible law that would facilitate the effective participation of citizens in the affairs of state, facilitates the welfare of citizens and promoting transparency will only inure to the benefit of all,” he added .
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By Maame Anima Akowuah