No political party deserves praise for RTI law – Asiedu Nketia

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NDC Secretary General Johnson Asiedu Nketia said civil society organizations should be the first to vote for the adoption of the right to information bill, not politicians.

"The praise should go to the CSO and not to any politician," he said, noting that the two parties that have governed the country since 1992 have been cold-blooded in pushing for the adoption of the draft law. law 19 years old.

"Politicians on all sides of the divide have a morbid fear of divulging information," the former MP told the News Analysis Channel on Saturday of Joy News, Newsfile.

Photo: Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Secretary General of the NDC

He recalled a time when any information on the budget was a well-kept secret.

A GNA journalist has been arrested and detained for years for disclosing economic information, commented veteran journalist Kweku Baako.

Asiedu Nketia recalled that the RTI Bill had been brought to his attention in 1999 while he was a Member of Parliament. Public advocacy for the law implementing a constitutional right to public information has begun and has developed.

The draft law drafted under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs was examined in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and presented to Parliament on February 5, 2010.

And that's where he stayed in Parliament for a long time – speech. Standing up and falling into the deliberative ranks of Parliament, he was put on first reading, after which he was referred to a special committee whose report on the bill triggers a second reading in Parliament.

It then reaches the stage of consideration where it is set up for a formal motion and a vote.

The RTI Bill arrived at this stage in December 2016, marking the most advanced stage of the process since 2010.

But small political quarrels disrupted the pbading of the minority, the new patriotic party, when it gained power in December 2016, threatened to withdraw if the government of the National Democratic Congress and outgoing force a majority in Parliament to do so adopt.

The bill has collapsed at the stage of study.

And he would resume his road to become law under the new government of the nuclear power plant led by Akufo-Addo. But not without delays or postponements.

Under the watchful eye of the RTI coalition, a merger of CSOs to advocate for pbadage of the bill, MPs would meet again in Parliament. Sometimes there was a whole media campaign on Parliament.

And some antics also in Parliament as Adansi Asokwa MP, Kobina Tahir Hammond, would disperse the deliberations on the bill by pointing out that Parliament did not have the quorum to debate it. A quorum that would not be reported for any other business of Parliament.

But on March 25, 2019, late Monday night, Parliament pbaded the bill, which the second vice-speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Bagbin, who presided over its pbadage, described as a "historic achievement."

The law is now waiting for President Nana Akufo-Addo to become an act of Parliament. But that's not all. MEPs have inserted a transitional provision that will make the law operational after 12 months.

NDC Secretary General Asiedu Nketia said he could not understand the reasoning behind this transitional provision.

"I do not see any reason why, for this particular bill, they have to put this 12-month-old stuff in," he said. This confirmed his suspicions that it is too early to celebrate the adoption of the law, he said.

Explaining the psyche of politicians, he said, no politician would want to be the first to start enforcing the law, which could open the government to public embarrbadment if transparency of the sun was allowed.

The 12 months begin when the president puts the emphasis. The Akufo-Addo government ends its first term after the December 2020 elections.