Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama in a World Press Freedom Day speech noted that public access to information is now a international development goal, but he did not commit to passing the slow-moving right to information bill in Ghana.
Meanwhile, transparency supporters urged action on the long-pending bill.
One legislator, however, has predicted that the RTI bill will not pass this year. The fate of the access to legislation, which the president has officially supported but not pushed, seems uncertain.
Mahama, who is Co-Chair of the United Nations Advocacy Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), noted, “SDG 16 specifically enjoins all member states to ensure public access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.” His comments came in a message presented on his behalf on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, according to an article in Business Ghana.
Although several days of debate were held on the RTI bill earlier this year, one legislator was pessimistic about its chances.
Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, George Loh, “has hinted that the long-awaited Right to Information (RTI) bill may be passed into law by the next Parliament in 2017,” reported April 23 by Citi News. “We’ve started with a clause by clause consideration but we must also appreciate that it is a very voluminous document,” he said, continuing, “As I speak to you now, for two days, we were able to do only clause one.”
“Because of the high interest in it, people are bring all kinds of contributions to enrich the law so that is where we are,” Loh said indicating that this complicates the process.
In March, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, said he hoped the bill would pass by the end of the year.
The bill was discussed for several days in March. (See FreedomInfo.org report.) A High Court of Justice court in April ordered the disclosure of documents based the Constitution. (See FreedomInfo.org report.)
Joe Osei Wusu, a ranking member of parliament who serves Constitutional Legal and Parliamentary Committee, has questioned why government has failed in prioritizing passage of an access bill, according to My Joy News. He said the government can see the passage through if it is committed to doing so before the end of the year, the account says, quoting him as saying, “I have seen bills that are much bigger, for example, the new income tax law was about three times the size of this one but when it was the priority of government, we sat through day and night to finish it. So it depends on priority.”
Executive Secretary of the Media Foundation for West Africa Sulemana Braimah told My Joy News that the delay affects Ghana’s democratic status. “Our government and our MPs for the last 13 years have said we wouldn’t grant you that right and yet they will go round saying they are committed to transparent and accountable governance, they are committed to fighting corruption,” he added.
“Private legal practitioner, Samson Lardy Anyenini who presented a petition to parliament on behalf of The Multimedia Group demanding that the bill is given priority and passed, said although they received a positive response from the House, he is unable to tell why the bill is yet to be passed,” the article says.
Conference of Supporters Held
Speakers at a public lecture called on Parliament to expedite action on the bill, as described in Graphic Online, Ghana Web and Peace FM. The event was organized by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in collaboration with the European Union (EU), in Accra to herald the celebration of World Press Freedom Day.
The Ghana Journalists Association has asked for the quick passage of the bill and like other advocacy groups has also the bill needs to be improved by amendment.
Chairman of the National Media Commission, Kwesi Gyan Apenteng, said the difficulty in accessing information from state institutions was a stumbling block to the enjoyment of constitutional rights. “We need to remind ourselves that the demand for the right to information law arose in response to government secrecy even in countries that are considered to be traditionally democratic.” He was quoted as saying, “The fight against poverty must include the ability to find relevant information and use it to probe proper functioning of government machinery and agencies. This will ensure sustainable development,” he said.
Apenteng also said, “We must refuse to accept any legislation riddled with exceptions and claw-back clauses.”
The Regional Coordinator of the CommonWealth Human Rights Initiative, Mina Mensah, stated, “We need to tune our mind to the fact that the law is critical to our development. A lack of the law creates a sense of disempowerment.” Mensah recalled that when President Mahama was interviewed by Deutsche Welle TV’s Tim Sebastain, the president’s defense to the long delay in passing the Right to Information Bill was that media pluralism was high in Ghana and the media landscape was very free.
Mensah recalled that when President Mahama was interviewed in October of 2015 by Deutsche Welle TV’s Tim Sebastain, the president’s defense to the long delay in passing the Right to Information Bill was that media pluralism was high in Ghana and the media landscape was very free. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) In the same interview, the president predicted, “I am sure Parliament will pass it before the life of this Parliament is over….”
Seeking Municipal Transparency
Separately, participants at a Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability forum called on officials of the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly to guarantee citizens unfettered access to public information to enable them monitor activities and projects being undertaken, Ghana Web reported.
“Information is power, it must be accessible to us, there are people who cannot read but when the information is given to us in a pictorial form on let’s say citing a market or toilet we can also assess the possibility of whether it is good for us or not,” according to Charles Zuttah, a member of the Ghana Federation of Urban Poor.
The article continued:
“We must be part of dreaming the projects so that we can supervise the implementation process, the authorities have the professional eyes, if we are engaged and understand why this project is here and not there, it will reduce tension and conflicts,” he added.
Mr Zuttah noted that Assembly officials’ failure to provide timely and relevant information about their activities and programmes, including placement of community projects, had largely turned many marketplaces, toilet facilities and a host of public buildings to white elephants.
But the Head of Social Accountability Unit at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mrs Fati Lily Soale said the unit had developed a simplified public financial management template that deconstructed technical language used by the Assemblies.
She said the move formed part of the unit efforts to ensure that all citizens, literates and illiterates, have access to public information to enable them to mobilise themselves to monitor projects being undertaken by their respective Assemblies.
However, she said citizens’ lack of interest in the activities of the Assemblies is a source of concern that ought to be addressed since it affected public good and waned national responsibility.
“There is apathy among the people, there is no sense of responsibility and this is why we have poor maintenance culture, but then illiteracy rate is very high, we have to build their capacity, which the SPEFA forum is doing now, though this is very expensive we have to stimulate their interest,” she said.
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