Amnesty International Ghana on Jan. 6 called on the Parliamentary Task Force on Right to Information to report, as promised, on public consultations about a long-pending RTI bill.
Parliament held nationwide consultations on the bill last summer and was expected to prepare a report.
“Amnesty International (and indeed the Coalition on the Right To Information) is worried that the findings of the task force is not yet made public to pave way for the next line of action towards the passage of the bill which had been laid before Parliament well over a year now,” said AI Ghana.
Passage of the RTI bill should not be delayed until after the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, the group said. “2012 is an election year in Ghana and typical about election years, electioneering and related activities will become priority focus of Parliamentarians and indeed the Executive arm of Government. Amnesty International is concerned and worried that the RTI bill may be swept under the carpet until probably well after the elections”.
The group also called on the media and the general public to support the campaign for the immediate passage of an RTI law.
Ghana’s president has stated his support for a bill, but although his party controls Parliament the bill has not moved forward. (See previous FreedomInfo.org reports.)
Resolve Questioned
“I think the Executive has passed the buck to the Legislature and feels absolved from blame,” explained Vitus A. Azeem, Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, to FreedomInfo.org.
If the government were committed to having the law passed, it could have got it passed, he said, noting that Parliament has passed several laws brought before it for emergency action.
“As for the delay in publishing the report on the consultations, no reason has been given but I believe it is because the Bill has not been brought up again for debate,” Azeem said. “One of the reasons or excuses for the lack of action is that Ghana is not ready in terms of its records situation. The government does not want to be dragged to court for information that is not available.”
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