By Toby McIntosh
UNESCO has picked the president of Ghana, whose nominal support for an access to information law in Ghana has yet to produce results, to give the keynote speech at the first International Day for Universal Access to Information.
President John Dramani Mahama will speak on Goal 16 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which calls for access to information (ATI). A key indicator of success for this goal is passage of ATI laws.
The campaign for an access law in Ghana has been ongoing for 17 years, and although the president officially supports having a law, he has done little to advocate for it, according to the bill’s supporters.
“There is nothing to show that the Executive is lobbying or working with Parliament to ensure that the Bill is passed before the elections,” according to a recent statement by the coalition backing the right to information (RTI) bill.
Nevertheless, Mahama has been slotted for 30 minutes at the conclusion of the Sept. 26 access to information event in Paris, according to an agenda released by UNESCO Sept. 7.
The day-long occasion will mark the celebration of what was previously called Right to Know Day (officially Sept. 28) before being declared an international UN day last year. (See FreedomInfo.org report on the designation and choice of name, acronym (IDUAI).) (Also UNESCO web page on IDUAI, which lists six national events for Sept. 28, in Brazil, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mongolia and Vietnam.)
`Holistic’ Approach Cited
The program organized by UNESCO allots most of the time for “inspiring talks” by speakers on 11 other SDGs, such as “zero hunger,” with an emphasis on how ATI will help implement them. A UNESCO official called this is a “holistic” approach to ATI.
“The whole purpose is to discuss how access to information relates to the achievement of the range of goals,” the UNESCO official wrote FreedomInfo.org, adding, “All presenters have been briefed accordingly, so they will link the issue to their subject expertise.”
Also, the official noted, Mahama is co-chair of the UN Advocacy Group on SDGs and “will be the most senior participant who represents the highest level of a Member State, which is clearly important for a UN body.”
Presidential Effort Faulted
The president’s commitment to passage of an access bill since he became president four years ago has been questioned, including recently by the broad coalition supporting passage. Efforts to pass a law in Ghana have been underway since 1999.
The RTI Coalition on Aug. 18 appealed to the president in a letter “asking him to intervene and expedite the passage of the right to information bill.”
A wide variety of difficulties have faced the right to information (RTI) bill in Parliament, which is controlled by the president’s party. The government’s proposed legislation now and in previous years has been widely considered too weak by RTI advocates, giving rise to the efforts to amend it.
But a key impediment has been a lack of presidential leadership, advocates maintain, dating back to Mahama’s election in 2102, and before, when he was vice president.
In March of 2016, Parliament began consideration of the bill, but then suspended debate. The Coalition’s August letter summarized the situation, especially noting a broken Mahama promise:
In March 2016, Parliament began the consideration of the Bill with the proposed amendments by the Select Committee. Between March and June, 2016, Parliament was only able to consider 29 out of 157 clauses of amendments. However, Parliament suspended the consideration of the RTI Bill without any particular reason and began consideration of other bills some of which have today been passed. In all our engagements with Parliament, we were assured by both the majority and the minority members of Parliament that the RTI Bill will be passed in its second sitting for the year (May – July, 2016). Even at the 117th UN Human Rights Committee meeting, Members of Parliament led by the Deputy Attorney General, Hon Dominic Ayine assured the international community that the RTI Bill will be passed by July 22nd, and that Your Excellency has personally tasked him to attend Parliament regularly to ensure that the Bill is passed, but this promise has failed to materialise.
Earlier in August coalition urged Parliamentary leaders to act. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
Leaders in parliament recently have variously predicted passage in late 2016 or early 2017. (See FreedomInfo.org report.)
No Evidence of Executive Lobbying
Lack of active support from the president was singled out as a problem in a July 2016 Coalition’s plea for action:
There is nothing to show that the Executive is lobbying or working with Parliament to ensure that the Bill is passed before the elections.
In fact we have heard some Parliamentarians say that the RTI Bill is an orphan because nobody from the executive is lobbying for its passage.
The statement further comments, “So far, we have not heard the President requesting Parliament to, as a matter of urgency, pass the ‘Peoples Bill’ inclusive of the amendments into law neither have we heard him cautioning Parliament for delaying the consideration and passage of the Bill with the amendments.” (See FreedomInfo.org report.)
At the 117th Session of the UN Human Rights Committee held in Geneva in June 2016, a government delegation led by Hon. Dominic Ayine, the Deputy Minister for Justice and Attorney General, indicated that the RTI Bill would be passed by July 22, 2016.
Passage is also an unfulfilled goal in Ghana’s national action plan prepared as a member of the Open Government Partnership.
Mahama’s Past Record, Delays
The president made an RTI bill a 2012 campaign promise and supported passage when he was vice president, too.
However, he did not mention the Ghana bill when he spoke in May 2016 at another UNESCO-sponsored event, World Press Freedom Day, in Finland, although he noted that ATI is now enshrined as an international development goal (SDG 16). (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
In October of 2015, when Mahama was interviewed by Deutsche Welle TV’s Tim Sebastain, the president’s defense for the long delay in passing the RTI bill was that media pluralism was high in Ghana and the media landscape was very free. (See 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….”
The RTI Coalition statement termed his comments “very disappointing.”
In May of 2015, journalism professor Kwame Karikari, the co-chair of the Ghana Right to Information Coalition, said, “President Mahama has only repeated his promise so far, but the delay continues, and so we are left with no other option but to interpret the state of affairs our own way.” (See Freedominfo.org article.)
Further back, Mahama on March 22, 2013, voiced support for passage of an RTI bill. He was quoted as saying he has no “fear of the Right to Information Bill… it is not a monster and I think that Parliament should pass it.” (See FreedomInfo.org article.)
Mahama mentioned the stalled bill in his State of the Nation speech Feb. 21, 2013, saying, “I will implement the Freedom of Information Act as soon as it is passed by Parliament.” (See Freedominfo.org report.) And he voiced support for it in October 2012 after being elected. (See FreedomInfo.org report.)
A wide variety of difficulties have faced the bill in Parliament. Committee-level action proceeded at a glacial pace.
In late 2015, the leader of the Parliament blamed a lack of meeting space for delaying action. (See FreedomInfo.org report.)
Parliamentary leaders in 2012 delayed holding promised public consultations, having failed to produce a report on the consultations that were held in 2011. (See previous FreedomInfo.org reports: deadline missed in July; and a February overview article. For all FreedomInfo.org coverage of the Ghana RTI saga search “Ghana” on the website.)
Mahama gave a pro-RTI speech in October of 2011. (See FreedomInfo.org article.) Mahama became president following the death of President John Evans Atta Mills, who had made RTI passage a campaign pledge, but subsequently said little about it.
In the absence of a national RTI law, a High Court of Justice court in Ghana in April has ordered the disclosure of documents based on an article in the Constitution, notwithstanding objections from the government. (See FreedomInfo.org article.)
“No one [must be allowed] to benefit from his own wrong, the State ought not to be allowed to benefit from the failure to pass a Freedom of Information Act by using the nonexistence of such an Act as a ground for refusing to disclose the requested information,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
UNESCO Says Mahama ‘Most Senior’
UNESCO’s online of Dramani and what he will address, is accompanied by a video of a speech he gave on “plastic pollution.” The bio states:
The President is Co-Chair of the UN Advocacy Group on SDGs. During and before his presidency, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has been a staunch campaigner for sustainability with strong interests in environmental affairs, especially in issues related to single-use plastic waste pollution in Africa. The President is also a member of the UNDP Advisory Committee on Conflict Resolution. He will elaborate on the role of media and access to information in promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, promoting access to justice for all and on building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
A UNESCO official replied to FreedomInfo.org’s question about the choice, saying:
Ghanaian society including parliament has been engaged around an ATI law, and the issue is still in process. As is widely recognized, Ghana is also a leader in Africa on the general issues of freedom of expression. Specifically, the President is also strongly engaged with SDGs, being co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Group of SDG advocates. He will be the most senior participant who represents the highest level of a Member State, which is clearly important for a UN body.
UNESCO Consultation on SDG 16.10
Separately, UNESCO is organizing an “experts” meeting on Sept. 19, 2016 about SDG Indicator 16.10.2 and has produced materials on how to measure accomplishment of the indicator, including “implementation” of ATI laws.
The event in Indonesia is on the fringe of the Jakarta World Forum for Media Development, sponsored by the Global Forum for Media Development. (See FreedomInfo.org report.)
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