Right to
Information Bill laid before Cabinet
Accra, May 15, Ghanadot/GNA - Mr. Ebo Barton-Oduro, Deputy Minister
of Justice and Attorney General on Friday said the Right to
Information (RTI) Bill has been laid before Cabinet for the necessary
action for onward submission to Parliament.
"The time for the enactment of the RTI Bill is now, and in
conformity with the Government's commitment to deepening
transparency, accountability and
good governance, it is determined to pass the Bill
into law within the shortest possible time," the
Deputy Minister stated in Accra.
He was speaking at the launch of Ghana Integrity Initiative
(GII)
Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) on the theme:
"Helping the
People to Address Corruption in Ghana." It was chaired by
Dr. Audrey
Gadzekpo of School of Communication Studies, University of
Ghana.
The Deputy Minister said the Government acknowledged the
peoples'
right to access information as an essential prerequisite for
an
effective and functional democracy as echoed in Article 21
(1) (f) of
the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
Mr Barton-Oduro commended the effort of civil society groups
for
championing the crusade for the passage of the Bill,
stressing that
the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) considered the
collaboration as a positive indication for progress.
He said poor information management system and record
keeping
were obstacles which may hinder the smooth implementation of
the law and called for action by
all stakeholders.
Mr Barton-Oduro also outlined government's efforts at
fighting
corruption and measures to strengthen the legal framework
which
included addressing the gap in the Whistleblower's Act, the
Procurement Law and the Financial Administration Law, among
others.
He said the government was in the process of introducing new
bills before Parliament of ensure that loopholes in existing
financial
regulatory laws were sealed, especially in the real estate
and car
dealing industries which were bedevilled with money
laundering.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Nana Oye Lithur,
a
member of the RTI Coalition, while acknowledging the recent
review of
the bill by the Government Statute Law Commission, "in our
view, there are still critical
needs for further review to render the Bill in line
with international best practice standards".
She said although the current Bill tried to comply with some
of
these principles, there were still certain provisions that
fell short
of the standards hence the need for the critical review when
it
finally got to parliament.
Nana Oye said these standards as espoused by the United
Nations
includes maximum disclosure, the obligation to publish,
limited scope
of exceptions; user-friendly access procedures; limited
costs; open
meetings; overriding disclosure principle; promotion of open
government and protection of whistleblowers.
She explained that, although the Bill contained a general
right
of access to information by the public, "this is limited in
scope to
information in the custody or control of a Government agency
and not
private bodies.
"This in effect underrates the desired impact of the law by
limiting it to a mere segment of public bodies and
disregarding the
integrated nature of public and private bodies in
undertaking public
service functions."
Nana Oye said the underlying rationale was that whereas
public
and private bodies rendered public functions, people had no
direct
claim to information from the private sector save for that
needed to
enforce a legal right.
Meanwhile, Mr Vitus Azeem, Executive Secretary of GII,
described
the apparent delay in the passage of the RTI Law as a major
constraint in the fight against
corruption.
He urged the government to pass the law in fulfilment of its
campaign commitment to pass RTI law, and commended the
government for its demonstration
of good faith in passing the bill.
On the issues of corruption, Mr Azeem said Ghana had
improved her
standing on the perception of corruption index, placing 67
in 2008 as
against 69 in 2007 out of 180 countries sampled in both
years.
He said the country also scored 3.9 on the Corruption
Perception
Index in 2008 as compared to 3.7 last year. "thus for three
consecutive years Ghana has inched up steadily on the
perception of
corruption".
Mr Azeem commended government for creating the enabling
environment and supporting anti-corruption initiatives,
which have
played significant role in the improved score.
He said pronouncements by President John Evans Atta Mills
and
Vice President John Dramani Mahama about what government was
doing to curb corruption had sent
strong signals to the international world of
the country's determination to fight corruption.
GNA
