Parliament reminded of obligation to pass RTI into law

A concerned group have reminded Members of Parliament that further delay in the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) bill could be a betrayal of public trust in the institution of Parliament.

The group, including journalists, assembly members, public servants and opinion leaders, called on the leadership of Parliament to honour their recent promise to ensure the passage of the RTI bill in conformity with the best practices in the world before Parliament rises.

This was contained in a communiqué issued by the group after a focus group discussion on the RTI, organized by the Eastern Regional Coalition on the Right to Information in Koforidua.

The communiqué regretted that, despite the pronouncement of the Presidential candidates of the various political parties of their determination to fight corruption, entrench the democracy of the country and run an open government to ensure the total development of the country, none of them apart from President John Dramani Mahama had spoken about the passage of the bill into law to empower the citizens to take their destiny into their own hands and contribute positively to the development of the country.

The group challenged the presidential candidates to demonstrate their promise of good governance by motivating their Parliamentarians to fight for the passage of the RTI with the various amendments needed to make it a good law.

The group expressed its appreciation to President Mahama for his promise to ensure the passage of the RTI bill saying being the leader of a party in government with majority in Parliament he could do more to ensure the passage of the bill with all the needed amendments.

The communiqué appealed to the Ghana Journalists Association to make the passage of the RTI Bill a major political issue on its election platform.

It called on other Civil Society Groups to join the campaign for the passage of the RTI.