Contribute to Information Bill - Minister

Tamale, Oct. 27, GNA - Mr Andrew Awuni, Deputy Minister of Information, has urged stakeholders to present inputs for the Information Bill to enrich the final Act yet to passed. He said the government wanted to give stakeholders the chance to discuss and send inputs for the bill because some people are complaining that they never had sufficient discussions on the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Mr Awuni was speaking at a press soiree in Tamale on Sunday to explain government policies to the people and also to assess the impact of the policies on the life of the people in the Northern Region. He said the passing of the bill into law would enable all citizens to seek public interest information at all levels, except information that may border on the security of the state.

Mr Awuni urged the media to broaden their coverage to cover other issues such as health, education and agriculture to draw the attention of the government and other stakeholders to problems in these sectors. "Don't let us spend all our time on politics but let us identify problems facing the rural people, if even such issues will embarrass the government but will be to the benefit of the people", he said.

Mr Awuni commended the media for making the government and public officials accountable to the people, saying, "the government listens to the concerns of the people especially during phone-ins programmes on radio and television stations".

The Journalists called on the government to provide them with means of transport and other logistics to facilitate their work. They also called for collaboration between the Regional Coordinating Council and the District Chief Executives by organizing periodic briefings on events in the region.