Freedom of Information Act in Ghana, NDC Action Imperative Now

By Yaw Adu-Otu

CPP Coalition-USA ; January 15, 2011, Woodbridge, VA

To show a degree of seriousness for reducing elite corruption in Ghana, it would be in the national interest of the country for if the Atta Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government took steps to to pass Freedom of Information Law before the elapse of its first term in office, to complement the abrogation of the Criminal Libel Legislation passed by the J. A. Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party.

Considering ramifications of some critical national news-making events in Ghana’s Fourth Republic, few active citizens will disagree that unfettered access to public information by the press and interested citizens would be a lethal weapon in the arsenal to battle rampant corruption by the elite of the ruling class coalition.
In most places in Africa today, enhanced press freedom in Ghana has become a target of envy. Nevertheless, for the atmosphere in the freedom of the press to flourish, responsible journalists must have unimpeded access to information in the public domain where appointed officials of the state wield controlling political and administrative powers.
Recent enhanced press freedom in Ghana came about as a result of revocation of criminal libel laws that had been in the statute books pre-dating the country’s independence in 1957. In this instance, it is fair to reward Nana Akufo-Addo, the presumptive candidate for president of Ghana in the forthcoming 2012 general elections of Ghana with the singular credit for the enhanced press freedom in view of his leadership of assault on the Criminal Libel Code during his tenure as attorney-general of Ghana during the J. A. Kufuor-led administration of the New Patriotic Party government. President Kufuor himself did not exhibit open interest in the Akufo-Addo commando-style assault on the reprehensible criminal libel code. Speculations and innuendo abounded that President Kufuor showed lackluster interest and support for the process towards killing the criminal libel code.
Pres. Kufuor’s relative disinterest in killing the erstwhile criminal libel code of Ghana was seen as the reason why a proposed Freedom of Information Billwas not passed in the parliament of Ghana during his party’s eight-year term in office. It remains a mystery why the Kufuor administration did not push for passage of the Freedom of Information Bill into law. Sources speculated that Kufuor and his party’s leadership were disinclined to support passage of Freedom of Information Law because of its potential as corruption-fighting weapon. Passage of FOI Law would have opened the floodgate for the press to find out who among the ruling party’s politicians and appointees engaged in acts of corruption.
Upon assumption of office in January 2009, significant members of the NDC government led by Pres. Mills have paid lip service to the passage of the FOI Law without action to-date. Yet, it is defensible to suggest that with FOI law in place, Ghanaians would have found out quickly who at Ghana National Petroleum Corporation passed oil exploration seismic data to the E. O. Group for onward transfer to Kosmos Energy. With a FOI Law Ghanaians could have delved deep to find out the truth about expropriation of the funds allocated for the Ghana@50 celebration. In short a Freedom of Information law in Ghana can be use in resolving a host of outstanding criminal appropriation of the funds and other resources to end stressful speculation.
Freedom of Information Law has the capacity to enhance transparency in public decision-making and execution of policies. For the reasons here and some more, it is incumbent on the Mills administration and the parliament to push for immediate enactment of Freedom of Information Law in the interest of efficient governance and at least for political advantage.

Contact: cppcoalitionusa@hotmail.com
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