COALITION URGES PARLIAMENT TO PASS RTI BILL AS A MATTER OF URGENCY.

The Coalition on the Right to Information Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)has urged Parliament to as a matter of urgency, pass the Right to Information Bill (RTI). The request is aimed to guarantee citizens’ citizen’s access to information as provided in the Constitution. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) made the appeal at a news conference aimed at sensitizing the citizenry on the latest developments on the RTI Bill in Accra yesterday. Addressing the media, Nana Oye Lithur, expressed disappointment at the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Communications and Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, delay in submitting their report to Parliament. She however, recalled that the RTI Bill which was first laid before Parliament in February, 2010 took over another year to collate views from Ghanaians through regional consultations. Nana Oye Lithur, a human rights advocate, therefore laid the blame on the Select Joint Committee. She said the coalition submitted an option paper to the Joint Committee suggesting specific amendments to the bill. The suggestions included timeliness, appeal processes, exemptions, fees and the issue of an Independent Information Commission (IIC). “The Joint Committee omitted the question of timeliness for disclosure of information upon request, a matter that was major throughout the regional consultations” she added. She also noted that the issue of the IIC brought up some differences as the Joint Committee suggested the Commission for Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for that role. She said the coalition’s was of the view that CHRAJ had a three-pronged mandate of tackling anti-corruption, human right and Ombudsman which they thought would make it overburdened, therefore the need for the Commission. She explained that the Joint committee had not informed the Coalition of its findings after regional consultations despite their several requests. Nana Oye Lithur noted that Mr. Cletus Avoka, the Majority Leader in parliament assured the coalition that Parliament would pass the bill before going on recess by July, 2012 adding that, “we have barely 8 working days to the end of July and we have not heard anything.” She further called on the public to guard against any attempt to pass a frail Bill which not reflect true transparency and accountability from public officials. Professor Kwame Kakakari who chaired the function called on citizenry to lobby their respective Members of Parliament to help pass the bill as soon as possible. He hinted that the coalition wanted a quality RTI Bill for Ghanaians. The Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Affail Monney impressed upon the media to consider the RTI Bill as very necessary for their profession. He urged media houses to give it the necessary prominence to ensure that the Bill was passed into law quickly. “The media stand to benefit mostly from this bill as accurate information is very paramount to the profession” he said.