The Ghana Parliament on June 30 moved toward plenary consideration of right to information legislation.
The bill has advanced to “second reading,” further than ever before.
The Attorney General moved for the debate on June 25. A parliamentary committee issued a report on the long-stalled bill. The report is dated December 2014, but only recently was made public.
The of parliamentary proceedings is currently available through June 18.
The committee report proposed some major amendments to the bill.
Among other suggestions, it advised that:
– the exemption provision is “too wide and every exemption must be subjected to the public interest test.
– the coverage must be widened to cover private bodies that perform public functions with public funds.
– creation of an independent commission with appeal and oversight responsibilities.
– further appeals should go to the High Court, not the Supreme Court.
– the cost of accessing information from any public institution should therefore be limited to the actual cost of reproduction
– the timelines for response should be shortened.
The Attorney General put the amendments in legislative language for consideration by Parliament.
Filed under: What's New