The leading Islamic figure in Ghana has called for passage of a right to information law.
“The National Chief Imam, His Eminence Sheikh Dr Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, has added his voice to calls on Parliament to hasten the passage of the Right to Information Bill (RTI) as it has the potential of entrenching democracy, transparency and accountability as well as promoting development,” according to a report by Public Agenda.
Representatives of the Muslim community met in Accra on June 13 under the sponsorship Enfoworld-Ghana and the Muslim Dialogue and Humanitarian Organisation. “The encounter was aimed at bringing to the fore the current state of the RTI and the benefits it is expected to bring to Ghanaians in general and its Muslim population in particular,” Public Agenda said. The report continued:
The Chief Imam believes that the passage of the bill “will give no public office holder a chance to abscond and mismanage public properties, hence the less chance for corruption and embezzlement of public funds and properties.”
According to him, he supported the passage of the bill because Islam believes in transparency, accountability and probity.
Alhaj M. Gado Mohammed from the Office of the Chief Imam, who chaired the meeting, “argued that there was no single legislation in Ghana’s political history that had the prospects of strengthening democracy like a credible and effective RTI law,” according to Public Agenda.
Another report on the meeting, in Ghana Business News, quoted Alhaji Alhassan Abdulai, Executive Director of Enfoworld Ghana, assaying the National Chief Imam “is one of the patrons together with some religious and traditional leaders adding that the Muslim fraternity had engaged the regional and districts branches to sensitise them on the importance of the bill.” The report went on:
Alhaji Abdulai stressed that Parliament through its leadership has promise to pass the bill by the end of its present life and therefore called on stakeholders to educate the masses in their sermons and meetings to have a deeper understanding of the bill.
Conference, Debate to Be Held
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is holding a National Stakeholders’ Conference on the Right to Information (RTI) in Accra June 20. It will highlight the Ghana RTI Coalition’s proposed amendments. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report).
A joint statement issued by Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director and Mrs Ugonna Ukaigwe, Programme Officer; Media Law Reform and Legal Defence, both of the MFWA, says, “Even though a bill is currently before Parliament, concerns have been raised by the Ghana RTI Coalition on the quality of the bill vis-a-vis international best practises on RTI legislation.”
In another development, the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) said it is organizing a debate on the RTI bill and the National Broadcasting Bill. The debate had been scheduled at the Institute’s auditorium on June 18 and will be attended by participants drawn from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), development partners, academia, the media, private sector, civil society organizations and other stakeholders.
“The debate is on the topic: “The Right to Know and the Power to Regulate the Airwaves: The Way Forward” and the panel will include Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua, Member of Parliament for Biakoye and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa ( MFWA), Lawyer Akoto Ampaw, Chairman, Legal Committee of NMC and member Coalition on RTI and Dr Doris Yaa Dartey, Journalist and Communications Consultant as the moderator.
Revenue Watch Report
The findings of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee in its first report on the management of oil revenue is getting attention, according to a blog post for Revenue Watch by Emma Tarrant Tayou.
Her posting begins:
Ghana’s public and national media have seized on the While the law requires all petroleum receipts to be accounted for in a dedicated holding fund, the PIAC report identified gaps in both surface rental payments and receipts from the Saltpond oil field, which produces around 700 barrels per day. The information that was available was for the more recent—and more significant—Jubilee field.
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