'Benefits of RTI goes beyond politics' - Coalition Coordinator

The Eastern Regional Coordinator of the Right to Information(RTI) Coalition, Mr Edmund Quaynor had called on the Members of Parliament to demonstrate their desire to contribute towards the reduction of poverty in the country and respect for the electorates of Ghana by passing the RTI bill into law.

He explained that the skewing of all the arguments on RTI to political benefits of the law had blinded people on the contribution of the RTI law to the economic emancipation of the ordinary people and contribution of the law to poverty alleviation.

Mr Quaynor was speaking at a public forum on the RTI Bill at Asamankese. The forum was organized by the Eastern Regional Branch of the RTI Coalition with the support from the African Office of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Open Society Foundation, an international funding institution.

The RTI law, when passed would allow Ghanaians to be asking questions on policies and issues. Mr Quaynor explained that access to quality information is the first step to the creation of successful businesses because with information, “it is easy for entrepreneurs to take the right decision to succeed.” He said this is what access to information could do for the individual and the country as a whole.

Ms Esther Ahulu of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said Ghana needed an RTI law that is workable and beneficial to the people. She called for the removal of those clauses of the bill that gives a blanket exemption to the information from the Presidency and information from the public service.