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General News on Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Source: clbadfmonline.com
2018-11-27
The RTI Bill has gone in and out of Parliament for almost two decades
The OccupyGhana® lobby group is partnering with like-minded media and civil society organizations to declare Friday, November 30, 2018 and every Friday before Christmas the #RTIRedFriday against the "manifest lack of". commitment and the delay by Parliament to bring the right to information (RTI) Bill into the law ".
"We note that even though the bill is in Parliament, some parliamentarians seem deliberately to be striving to create delays.
"This is why Parliament has not been able to meet a quorum several times in a row to consider the bill, which is currently under review," OccupyGhana said in a statement issued Tuesday, November 27, 2018.
The bill has been tabled in Parliament for almost two decades.
Below the complete statement of OccupyGhana:
DECLARED FOR NOVEMBER 30th! OCCUPYGHANA®, MEDIA AND RTI COALITIONS ANNOUNCE COMMON ACTION ON THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION
OccupyGhana® announces that it has partnered with like-minded media and civil society organizations to declare Friday, November 30, 2018 and every Friday before Christmas the #RTIRedFriday against the obvious lack of privacy. commitment and delays of Parliament in the adoption of the right to information. (RTI) Bill.
We note that although the bill has been tabled in Parliament, some parliamentarians appear to have deliberately used schemes to obtain delays.
This is why, on a number of occasions, Parliament has not been able to convene the necessary quorum to debate the bill, which is currently under consideration.
As underlined by OccupyGhana® a year ago, the inexcusably long delay of more than 19 years by successive governments under the Fourth Republican Constitution to enact this law suggests that governments are simply afraid of the fact that the government is not the only one. adopt a law that will make it possible to realize a right already recognized by the Constitution. given to Ghanaians.
Until the law is pbaded, Ghanaians have the right to conclude that the governments will seek all the excuses to delay the adoption of this law as much as possible.
We, and indeed many Ghanaians, can not help but notice the sense of urgency with which the government and the Parliament are eager to pbad bills that they consider important. . On such occasions, Parliament was recalled at the break or stayed behind to work on certain bills.
OccupyGhana® is particularly disappointed with the delay given the highly touted references of this government and its president with regard to the rule of law and good governance.
We remind the government that the courts have ruled that the right to information does not require that an act of Parliament be exercised. However, there are still substantive and procedural obstacles to the exercise of this right.
The current default position of ministries is to refuse or not to respond to requests for information. This forces citizens to go to court whenever they seek to exercise this right.
This is unacceptable and must be resolved to ensure a simple and inexpensive system for the public to enforce information requests.
The government and parliament are likely to show the Ghanaian people that they are no different from their predecessors for almost two decades when it was to give the people of this country its right to # 39; information.
OccupyGhana® therefore calls on the President to ask his government to pbad this law without further delay.
OccupyGhana® further expects that the bill, once enacted, will clearly define the parameters and cases in which the government will exercise the privilege of the public interest (it is the privilege which allows the government to refuse the disclosure of a document or information directed against the public.) interest).
The broad interpretation currently given by the Government of this privilege is, in our view, the main substantive and procedural obstacle to the full realization of the right to information.
Any law that does not deal with this issue in a way that facilitates the right to information would be of no use and would not have been worth the wait. The law should ensure that any doubt as to the existence of such a privilege is resolved in favor of the disclosure or the granting, rather than the retention, of this information.
OccupyGhana® is calling on the public to put even more pressure on the government and parliament to enact this law by participating in activities organized under the #RTIRedFriday. We must not accept the status quo and Parliament's apology for the delay of nearly 20 years.
Yours, for God and the country,
OccupyGhana®
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