Bolgatanga, Aug 19, GNA - The Coalition on the Right to Information has reiterated its call on civil society organizations and individuals to join the advocacy train and demand for the Right to Information (RTI) bill to be passed into law.

"The coalition maintains that the right to information is fundamental to the realization of economic and social rights as well as civil and political rights. It seeks to promote accountability and empowerment of the citizenry in a democratic society".

Nana Oye Lithur, a legal practitioner and a human rights activist, made the call on Thursday at a one-day workshop organized in Bolgatanga.

She said numerous provisions in the Bill had still not been reviewed to reflect international best practice standards.

Nana Oye Lithur said even though the current RTI Bill stipulated that it was the responsibility of the government to provide information on governance, the principle of maximum disclosure was however undermined by undue delay, cumbersome and rather expensive fee regime and lack of coverage of private bodies.

Nana Oye Lithur said maximum disclosure was the overriding principle of any effective freedom of information law but the RTI Bill was still weak on that point.

"It is further undermined by the numerous exemptions from clauses 5-17, some of which are loosely worded and unnecessarily repeated without being adequately subjected to the harms test", she said.

She suggested that there should be a requirement for the manuals produced by government agencies to include their policies and reasons for adopting them

This would facilitate the peoples' right to know government dealings as the basic requirement for the right to Information Law.

She suggested that the RTI Law should cover all public bodies, including the Chieftaincy Institution, to ensure complete freedom of information for the Ghanaian public.

Ms Caroline Nalule, Regional Coordinator of the Commonwealth Human rights Initiative (CHRI) Africa Office, said for one to participate in democratic governance, one needed to be well informed on all aspects of the country so as to whip up interest to do so.

"When people are well informed, they feel empowered to get involved and also call for accountability, which would help to minimize or eradicate corruption in society", she said.

Ms Nalule said freedom to Information could also help alleviate poverty and encourage investors as people needed information about a particular society to encourage them invest there.