The President must still receive the RTI Act a month after its adoption

General News on Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-04-30

President Akufo-Addo has not yet approved the law on the right to information a month after its adoption late at night.

The parliament did not pbad the law to the chairman, majority leader and parliamentary affairs minister, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, told JoyNews Tuesday.

He explained that the officers of Parliament are shoveling the law, a practice he described is common for all bills pbaded by Parliament.

"A misguidance, even of a punctuation mark, could alter the character of a whole disposition."

Technically, the president must attach his signature so that a bill becomes law.

The law is supposed to make operative Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution which states that "Everyone has the right to information subject to the necessary qualifications and laws in a democratic society"

The adoption of the 19-year-old RTI bill required sustained pressure from media and civil society groups, including the RTI coalition.

Lacking delays and postponements, it was finally adopted on March 26, 2019, with a caveat that delays implementation to 2020.

It was explained that despite its adoption, there was no budget allocation to finance its implementation, an argument that the RTI Coalition found bizarre.

Samson Lardy Anyenini, a coalition member, said several bills had been pbaded and implemented without budget allocations.

But the latest delay in obtaining the presidential badent is not unusual for Parliament, said the deputy of Suame and leader of the majority.

He said, three other bills are being cleaned. Nevertheless, he described the failure to pbad the law to the president of the "impeachment" of Parliament.

Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu said that parliament is quick to pbad laws to the president such as the appropriations bill that allocates and approves the government's budget.

According to the law, the credit bill must be pbaded and sanctioned before the end of the fiscal year, he said.

Usually, the president does not take more than seven days to approve the appropriations bill after its adoption.

"As we hurry to clean up, so we must apply the same diligence to all bills," said MP Suame.

The leader of the majority noted that the silence of the 1992 constitution on the acceptable time period in which the law should be pbaded on to the president was also part of the problem.

"For me, it's a tragedy. Maybe we should have been a lot more pointed out that maybe within 14 days … certainly not after a month, "he suggested changing the 1992 constitution.

"It is important that we pressure our steps," he said and took some of the responsibility for not pbading the law on to the president a month after it was pbaded.

He said he took part in parliamentary missions outside the country.

The majority leader said the law could be on the president's desk by the end of the week.

For more news, go to myjoyonline.com

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