Last amendment to the problem of the RTI – Coalition bill

General News of Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-02-19

Ghana's Coalition for the Right to Information (RTI), the RTI Media Coalition and Occupy Ghana; collectively known as the Coalition raised concerns about the new amendment to the bill.

Parliament approved last week an amendment to the Right to Information Bill (RTI), which aims to extend the date of entry into force of the bill after its adoption.

The amendment states that the bill is to come into force during the next year following its approval by Parliament and the approval of its president.

But according to the group that wants the RTI to be adopted as quickly as possible, the last amendment is "problematic and likely to cause unnecessary delays in the implementation of the constitutional law in arrears for 25 years".

"Ghana's Coalition for the Right to Information (RTI), the Media Coalition on RTI and OccupyGhana (the entire Coalition) took note of Parliament's decision to accept a new initiation clause that will technically activate the implementation of the planned ITR Act. 2019 in January 2020. Similar to our position on a proposal by Frederick Opare Ansah, Honorable Member for Suhum, we consider the current amendment to the RTI Bill to be problematic and likely to cause unnecessary delays in the implementation of the RTI. implementation of the delay taken 25- constitutional law one year old. "

Coalition recommendations on the amendment

The Coalition argued that instead of extending the date of creation of the infrastructure and the various offices charged with implementing the bill, [supplementary] budget can [instead] be modified to provide for unforeseen expenses. The Ministry of Finance can use transfers to reallocate funds and make proposals for approval in a supplementary budget in mid-year. "

"Secondly, we are concerned that the bill has not proposed a specific timetable for what will be done between the period during which it is sanctioned by the president and the beginning of the next fiscal year. To have a timetable or transitional provisions clearly written into the law is the path taken by the countries of the world quoted by Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu in his argument before the Chamber, "the statement added.

The comings and goings

The Right to Information Bill was drafted for the first time in 1999 under former President Jerry John Rawlings.

Various lobby groups were formed to pbad this bill immediately in 2002 and were reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

In its electoral manifestos of 2008 and 2012, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) promised to ensure that the bill was pbaded. In 2010, it was presented to Parliament for consideration.

In 2011, the government joined the Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP) with a commitment to pbad the law. In November 2013, the bill was officially tabled in parliament.

The former Attorney General, Deputy Dominic Ayine in 2015, introduced the bill at second reading in Parliament. In October 2016, the bill was withdrawn and replaced by a new one that was immediately tabled.

Following the dissolution of the sixth legislature of the fourth republic and the inauguration of the new parliament in January 2017, the new government had to introduce the bill before the work began.

A group of press reporters lobbied Parliament before the suspension of the pbadage of the bill.

BoG calls for RTI to be considered to protect "sensitive" data – Inusah Fuseini

Inusah Fuseini, a prominent member of the Parliament's Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, had previously said that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) wanted the right to information bill to be further amended. released.

He added that the Bank of Ghana (BG) had asked Parliament to consider an amendment to the RTI bill that would limit the flow of critical financial information to the public.

"The central bank was proposing an amendment and the amendment stipulated that information likely to reasonably affect the stability of the financial system (…) should not be provided as this could harm the financial system", was -he adds. in an interview with Citi News.