Plant Breeders Bill won’t introduce GMO - Agbesi

Mr. Alfred Agbesi, Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, has reiterated that the Plant Breeders Bill before Parliament is not intended to introduce Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) into the country.

Mr. Agbesi, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, said: “This bill seeks to regulate the production, offer for sale, sale marketing and advertisement of new varieties. The bill is, therefore, not introducing GMO as some section of the public would want us to believe".

He said this during the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly’s First Ordinary Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Second Assembly.

The Deputy Majority Leader explained that the bill is to establish a legal framework to protect the right of breeders of new varieties or plant groupings.

He added that it is also aimed at promoting the breeding of new varieties of plants to improve the quality, quantity and food, fuel and raw materials for industry.

Touching on the Right To Information Bill, he said the bill which has been outstanding since the New Patriotic Party’s administration, was properly laid before Parliament in 2010.

He indicated that the Committee on Communication and the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, to which the bill has been referred to, are yet to report to Parliament for further consideration.

Mr. Agbesi stated that in its memorandum, the bill states that the right to information is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution and it is recognised as a right by International Convention on Human Rights.

He said: “Article 21 (1) (f) of the constitution provides that all persons have the right to information subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society, and the purpose of the bill is to give substance to that constitutional provision.”

The Deputy Majority Leader mentioned that there are some information that are exempted from the right to information, which includes information from the office of the President and of the Vice-President, as well as information relating to Cabinet.

Other exemptions are information relating to law enforcement, public safety and national security, information affecting international relations, information that affect the defense of the country and information relating to tax.

Economic and any other interest, economic information of third parties, internal working information of agencies, parliamentary privileges, fair trial, contempt of court, and the legal profession and any other privileges under law are all exempted from the bill.

Mr. Agbesi said the others are medical professional privilege, disclosure of a personal matter and disclosure for perfection of public interest.