by ASEMBI KINGSLEY WINFRED
Government is committed to the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill and that before the end of this year, it will be passed into Law, the Information Minister, Mr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has said.
Speaking at this year’s World Press Freedom Day at the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Hamid said the bill will be placed before Parliament when it resumes sitting.
“… when I said that, by the end of this year, the RTI Bill will be passed into law, I meant just that. … we were advised that, once the lifespan of a certain parliament elapses, whatever bill or bills were before that parliament opt to be relayed because a new parliament has come into being, and to assure you per the calendar that we sent to parliament, by the resumption of parliament, the RTI will be before Parliament for debate and for passage. It is non-negotiable”, he assured.
Speaking at the same forum, the Deputy Majority Leader and Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Public Procurement, Ms Sarah Adwoa Sarfo said there was much commitment on the part of both the Executives and Parliament to pass the RTI as well as the Broadcasting Bill.
She said Parliament was not in a dilemma in the passage of the RTI Bill.
“I must say that indeed we are not in a dilemma as Parliament because the process or the engineering process has already begun. It has gone to an advanced stage in the promulgation process in Parliament” she stated.
She stated that this Bill was a priority to government since it was enshrined in the constitution. “And so if this is in our constitution and has been there for years, and they need an Act of Parliament to re-echo that fundamental human right, I don’t think that, it will be a step in the bad direction,” she said.
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