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General News of Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Source: citinewsroom.com
2019-03-27
Elvis Darko is an important member of the Media Coalition on RTI Ghana.
The Media Coalition on the Right to Information Bill still has some reservations despite the monumental adoption of the Right to Information Bill.
The group remains concerned about some of the provisions of the bill that are considered potential barriers to access to information.
The group, which vigorously campaigned for the adoption of the RTI bill and put additional pressure on Parliament to speed up the process. He had also suggested that some of the clauses be considered before the pbadage, but his request was rejected.
Elvis Darko, an influential member of the Media Coalition and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Finder, told Citi News: "We are pleased if the bill is a credible bill that will facilitate access to the Internet. information."
Clause 13 of the bill protects public institutions under the pretext of protecting deliberation processes.
"The process of deliberation of each institution must be protected and they leave it like that," lamented Darko.
"This global protection could be misinterpreted and used to deny those who ask for information. The Parliament should therefore have added an additional clause according to which, at the end of the deliberation process, the protection of all the information ends, but the Parliament rejected this proposal. In the meantime, this is the information we are looking for and that is why we are pbading the bill. "
About RTI
The RTI is supposed to be a fundamental human right guaranteed by the Constitution and recognized as such by the international conventions on the rights of the man.
The adoption of the draft law gives substance to Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution which states that "Everyone has the right to information subject to the qualifications and legislation necessary for a democratic society".
The RTI bill was drafted for the first time in 1999 under former President Jerry John Rawlings.
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.
Parliament finally pbaded the RTI bill on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, after several policy changes and amendments.
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